First we took a look at Mobile Operating System market share as reported by NetMarketShare from their sample of 160 million users per month. (of all types, desktop and mobile). From this report, we see that Apple iOS is the dominate operating system in use.

Data provided by > Net Market Share

Next, we ran a report on Mobile Browser usage. We expected Android Browser and Mobile Safari to have more parity. In fact, the browser usage mirrored the operating system share.

Data provided by > Net Market Share

Of course there are stats and then there are stats. If you want another look, go to StatCounter Global Stats and review this US Region mobile browser report. A completely different set of data that shows rough parity between Android and iOS browsers.

Which is correct? Probably both. Methodologies differ. However one thing is clear in both data sets: Android and iOS browsers are the dominate platforms.

Have you seen a good mobile infographic lately? Let us know about it!

Connecting the physical with the digital - Two Rivers Landscaping uses QR Codes and Mojaba to show off completed projects and market for new customers.

QR codes are so popular these days, you’re bound to run into a few every time you step outside. They’re useful in so many marketing campaigns and can immediately connect a consumer to a business just with a smartphone scan.

Since anyone scanning a QR code will scan with a phone, the best possible experience for the user is one that is built specifically for mobile. So why not build a Mojaba mobile site for your client’s next QR code campaign?

You already know how easy it is to build a site in Mojaba, but did you know that Mojaba also generates QR codes for published sites? And not only the home page, but Mojaba provides a QR code for every panel of your mobile site. So you can design a landing page specific to the QR code campaign, print out the custom QR code, and display it anywhere you’d like.

Take a look at this QR code campaign built for a local landscaping business. A simple laminated sign on a stake shows branding, contact information and a QR Code. Someone walking by the garden can scan it to see who did the work. On the mobile-optimized site, they’d find useful information like services provided by the landscaper and how to contact them.

This is a great example of how mobile users get information on the go. Make it easy for them to find your client by meeting them on mobile.

See a great example of QR codes and mobile sites in action? Let us know in the comments below!

We have to commend Luke Wroblewski for being a vocal champion of mobile-first development. He has been one of the biggest proponents of mobile thinking in his presentations and writing, especially with his book, Mobile First, which came out in October 2011.

The book serves to explain exactly why developers and designers should consider building for mobile before building for a desktop environment. Wroblewski describes in depth how the state of the mobile web has changed over the last few years — mobile web browsing is not longer a painful experience (or, at least, it doesn’t have to be). Now, it’s reasonable for consumers to expect that their mobile experience should be tailor-made to fit their device. We have the capabilities. And with that realization, coupled with the fact that mobile growth is on the rise like never before, Wroblewski says it’s backwards to design for desktop before designing for mobile.

He points out the benefits of developing for mobile first, including the explosive growth you could gain by jumping into this new space early. In a recent talk, Wroblewski said that there are 371,000 babies born in the world every day, but there are 378,000 iPhones sold every day. Another 700,000 Android devices are activated every day. Add all of mobile together and nearly 1.5 million mobile devices are brought into the world every day — as opposed to 371,000 children.

Wroblewski says that mobile devices are becoming personal computers, meaning that with an advent of mobile-first users, we as developers need to design for mobile first as well. In the book, he explains his main three points about adopting a mobile-first mindset. Firstly, the astounding growth of mobile leads to new opportunities. You can make your own way by being mobile first and the opportunities are virtually endless. Secondly, when you work with mobile, you face a natural set of constraints, which lead to a narrow focus and precise goals for your product. And thirdly, mobile capabilities can lead to new innovation. Mobile is an untapped realm for many developers, and it’s possible to be the next big performer in the mobile world. You just have to build mobile-first.

It’s a forward thought for a forward-thinking world — and we couldn’t agree with Wroblewski more.

There are 700 million mobile users in Africa now — or 70 percent of the country’s population of 1 billion. Experts predict that number to grow to 735 million by the end of 2012. And it’s becoming increasingly important for Africans to use smartphones, not only for connective reasons, but for economic reasons.

Though cash payments are still the most popular form of money transfer in Africa, mobile payments are on the rise, accounting for an increasing portion of the country’s money exchange.

Mobile payments eliminate many of the problems that can arise from cash payments, like theft, violence and corruption. Instead of traveling long distances to pay bills or transfer money, where there is a good chance of being robbed, Africans can use their phones to pay bills and for goods and services.

In Kenya, a mobile payment system called M-Pesa is saving Kenyans over $4 million a week in travel fees. And companies like SmartMoney give Africans access to secure payment systems — especially in rural areas, where the people are often vulnerable to violence and theft when traveling to make payments. A lack of money systems in rural areas also increases this risk.

But with mobile payments, rural Africans have access to money systems and don’t have to travel to make payments — greatly empowering them and making the exchange of money easier and safer.

Mobile money systems also make aid money more effective by ensuring it is sent directly to people who need it most. Mobile money also serves African micro-finance by making loans available in rural communities that have limited access to existing money services. Mobile payments also increase the rate of repayment on micro-loans and allow for lower interest rates.

And the advent of smartphones means that power users will increasingly do business on their phones. We’re excited to see how mobile will grow in Africa in the coming year. Stay tuned for more insights into global mobile trends.

All images from IBM. 

“The mobile phone will drive internet use in India in 2012. Computing begins with the mobile and its growth is fast in India.” — Ankur Agarwal, Editor of onlygizmo.com, via BBC

Mobile Internet use is on the rise, and desktop Internet use is on the decline in India — and experts think that the lines will cross sometime this year. New research from StatCounter shows that more Internet traffic will come from mobile devices than desktop computers in India very soon — possibly even this year.

The cost of desktop Internet is more than many Indians can afford, and infrastructure limits the availability of Internet to rural areas, so the best and cheapest alternative is to use mobile. Widespread access to 2G and 3G allow more Indian mobile users to access the web on their phones.

Image via abhigyan.info

And with 4G on the rise (and now available in Calcutta), India could see increased Internet access and more adoption in the coming year. In January, the BBC reported that there could be 200 million new mobile subscribers in 2012, according to The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. That’s in addition to the current 898 million mobile subscribers — which would mean a 20 percent growth for mobile in just one year.

India’s population is now 1.2 billion people. If it did see 200 million more mobile subscribers this year, then the mobile penetration would be nearly 92 percent, or 1.1 billion mobile users.

Of the current mobile subscribers, 346 million can access the Internet — or 39 percent. That number drops to 121 million users on traditional desktop Internet. And Indians who have already adopted mobile use it for everything. Check out this look at Indian mobile life from DNA India:

Digital media professional Sarita Pandey has been using a Blackberry since 2007, and she depends on it for nearly everything that she does in a day. “This is where I read all my mails, respond to 50% of the office mails. I check news, and use it for checking out local restaurants and movie theatres. I check movie ratings online and book tickets too,” she said. Facebook and Twitter, of course, remain on all through the day. —DNA India

The article also says that 94 percent of Indian smartphone users go online every day (compared to 88 percent in the U.S.). And Indian smartphone users are more likely to check email and engage in social media with their smartphones than U.S. mobile users.

What other global areas are seeing large mobile growth? Stay tuned to the Torsion Mobile blog for more global insights and statistics.

iPhone users are leaders in search traffic, according to a new study from Chitika Insights. Normally, 36 percent of Internet traffic comes from search engines, but that number jumps to 54 percent on iOS devices. Apple users, in general, are bigger searchers than non-Apple users, with 48 percent of all Mac Internet traffic coming via search engines, as opposed to 32 percent of Windows Internet traffic, which makes Windows users the second least likely to use search engines, followed by Linux users.

But more interesting, perhaps, is the shift in numbers when searches are focused on local content (e.g. services or points of interest). Aside from Linux*, the two highest operating systems for local search are mobile — iOS and Android users are searching more for local content than users on any other operating system.

*Linux is often used by servers, which generate more traffic than a single user, so the local search percentage appears significantly higher in comparison with other OSs, while Linux in general has a relatively low rate of search engine traffic.

For Marketers:

If you have clients with local businesses, chances are good that residents and visitors are looking for them (or their services) on mobile. Show your client how many mobile users are using Internet searches to find content, and then ask them to search for themselves on a smartphone. Ask if they can easily navigate the site and find their own contact information in a f of minutes. Ask them to count how long it takes the site to load. And ask them to put themselves in the searchers’ position. Do they like what they see? Would they visit the business if they were an out-of-towner visiting for the weekend? Would they try to find a competitor instead?

Questions like these (paired with stats like the ones above) can help you start a conversation with your client about their mobile presence. If they don’t like what they see on their current mobile experience, you can show them what’s possible by mocking up an attractive and fast-loading mobile site. Then you’ll be a mobile hero — and win their business for future mobile projects.

For more stats and ways to start a conversation with your clients about mobile, download our new eBook, “Build Mobile Sites for Your Client and Profits for You” and sign up for your FREE Mojaba account at mojaba.com/signup.

Made with data from Nielsen

Mobile continues to dominate our downtime, with an increasing number of people using more than one screen while relaxing. A new report by Nielsen shows that a growing number fo consumers use smartphones and tablets while watching television. And the report highlights interesting differences between the gender and age groups.

Checking email is, by far, the most popular second-screen activity while watching TV, followed by social media. Men tend to look up program information while watching the program, while women tend to look up coupons or deals related to a TV ad.

Older tablet and smartphone users tend to only or primarily check email on their second screens and not spend much time on other tablet or smartphone activities, while younger users are more likely to engage in multiple activities while using two screens.

Made with data from Nielsen

For Marketers:

If you have a client that advertises on television, especially during prime time programs, convince them that it’s best to have a mobile-optimized website. Mobile websites will hold the attention of second-screen users better than a desktop-formatted site, reducing nasty mobile bounce rates for your clients. Remember that people use both tablets and smartphones while browsing a second screen, however, and it’s best to design for each platform separately.

Use Mojaba to build smartphone-optimized websites so consumers can find product, deal and contact information for your client even when they’re not out about town or at work.

Sign up for your FREE account today by visiting mojaba.com/signup.

Provided by Life360.com

Instances of mobile malware have grown considerably in the last year.

Smartphones and mobile devices are becoming a tempting target for hackers. And not the good hackers (developers who “hack” constructive things like data sets and platforms), but malicious hackers — the ones who produce malware, steal information and harm your computer. Or, increasingly, your mobile device.

A Mobile Threats Report from the Juniper Networks revealed that the amount of malware created for mobile devices across all operating systems more than doubled in 2011. Most of it was spyware — the stuff that steals your information. More than 63 percent of the malware found could track a phone’s location and collect financial information.

Last August, The New York Times reported that Android is the number one operating system targeted by hackers, mostly because Google does not use a vetting process to monitor new mobile apps. Apple demands that each app in the app store be approved, so it’s more secure, though not perfect.

And apps aren’t the only way hackers can target your mobile device. Dangerous Trojans can be sent via text message. Juniper reported that 36 percent of malware found were Trojans sent via SMS. And ambitious hackers can create QR codes that lead to infected mobile sites.

To protect yourself, be sure to download apps only if you know they are legitimate, and do your research. Check out these tips from PCWorld to avoid infected apps. Also, be careful to scan only QR codes from a source you trust. And if you’re building QR code campaigns, make sure to indicate where the QR code will take a user once they’ve scanned it.