2014 sees the continuing rise in the use of mobile and the phenomenal growth in tablets.

Visioncritical has identified 12 key trends from the KPCB Internet Trends Report 2014 that highlight the shifts in how we use the internet:

  1. Mobile data traffic is accelerating at 81%, driven by video.
  2. 30% of 5.2 billion mobile users now use smartphones. Mobile accounts for 25% of all web usage. In short, if you’re still doing business and research only on the web (or offline), you’re missing out.
  3. Tablet shipments have increased 52% in 2013, growing faster than PCs ever did.
  4. Mobile advertising grew 47% in 2013, but that only represents 11% of the total Internet advertising.
  5. App purchases make up 68% of money made on mobile. (The other 32% comes from mobile advertising.)
  6. Global over-the-top messaging services—including Snapchat, WhatsApp, and Viber—have reached 1 billion users in less than 5 years. Social networking is moving from broadcast to private sharing.
  7. BuzzFeed attracted over 130 million unique monthly visitors in 2013, trumping established brands such as the New York Times.
  8. For the first time ever, digital music sales fell (by 6%) in 2013, representing another shift in the music industry. This time, digital sales are declining because of streaming, which is up 32%.
  9. We’re mining a huge amount of data, but it’s mostly unusable. Only 7% of all data are tagged and a mere 1% are analyzed. This is why big-data projects have had limited success.
  10. The second screen era has arrived: 66% of U.S. tablet owners and 49% of smartphone users surf the web while watching TV; 44% of tablet users and 24% of smartphone users are shopping.
  11. The Chinese economy now makes up 16% of the global GDP. But China’s rise is not just about the number of consumers in the country: it’s also a place of innovation, as 4 out top 10 Internet properties (in terms of traffic) are now Chinese companies. As international markets like China grow, companies need to consider multinational communities to understand the unique needs of these markets
  12. The number of “microelectromechanical systems”— things like sensors and other components in mobile devices— shipped every year has increased more than sixfold over the last five years to 8 billion in 2013, an increase of 32% from 2012.

If you would like to know how we can help you keep up with these trends, then please contact us.