Mobile web usage grows nearly 30% in Q2

Mobile web usage increased 29.4 percent from the first quarter of 2008 to the second quarter according to mobile solutions and services provider Crisp Wireless. The second quarter edition of the Crisp Wireless Index, which analyzes traffic patterns to determine the busiest times of day and the busiest days of the week for the mobile web, reports that visits per unique user increased quarter-to-quarter from 2.02 to 2.06, but average page views per visit dipped from 3.96 in Q1 to 3.77 in Q2. The index adds that carrier dominance is waning: Among mobile sites with an on-deck presence across AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint, operator decks drove 45.74 percent of overall second quarter traffic, down from 53.4 percent in the previous quarter.

The Crisp Wireless index also reports that four dominant usage trends are emerging:

• Consumers view local news mostly in the morning, while checking national news continuously throughout day.
• Sports fans check scores and highlights during their favorite games, with traffic peaking on evenings and weekends.
• Women browse the mobile web late at night and early in the week, which mirrors their online habits--young girls browse late at night, especially on weekends.
• Subscribers most commonly access entertainment and online services in the evenings, primarily on weekends as they make plans to go out.
  

According to Crisp, users typing property or site names drove 28.9 percent of search engine traffic in Q2. Politics and entertainment remain the most searched terms in mobile, with "Movies/Movie Listings" coming in at number one--Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is in second place among search terms, with the top 10 also including Miley Cyrus, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Iron Man and the late Tim Russert.

For more on the Crisp Wireless Index:
- read this release [1]

Related articles:
Crisp [2]: Obama dominates mobile web searches
A&E teams with Crisp Wireless [3] for mobile websites