In its latest Mobile Touch Web Report for Q1 2010, Taptu reveals the mobile touch Web has grown 35 percent since last quarter, which represents a 232 percent annual growth rate overall.
This puts its growth ahead of the App Store, currently showing an annual growth of 144 percent, but behind the Android Market growing at an annual rate of 403 percent. The report also shows the number of mobile touch Web sites rose to 440,100 from 326,600 in January.
At the current run rate, the report predicts that the mobile touch Web will increase to 1.1 million sites by the end of the year, nearly twice Taptu’s original forecast, and nearly a full year ahead of its January prediction, fueled in part by the continued consumer love affair with touch-screen phones, and even more importantly the rising sales of mid-range touch-enabled devices.
“The strong growth we observed over this quarter really took us by surprise but with device shipments of touch screen phones forecast by Gartner to reach 360m for 2010 it seems brands and content owners are waking up to this new mass-market medium,” said Steve Ives, Taptu CEO. “It’s also crucial to note that the iPhone represents at most 10 percent of device forecasts. With mass-market touch-screen devices flooding the market, many without app stores, the Mobile Touch Web is meeting this consumer demand.”
Some other key findings from the report include;
- The number of touch-friendly websites is dramatically higher than just 4 months ago. At the end of 2010, we found 326,600 touch-friendly websites. In April 2010, that number has increased to 440,100 sites. This represents a 35 percent increase in the quarter and an annual growth rate of 232 percent.
- App Store numbers are up too, showing a comparative annual growth rate of 144 percent up to 185,000 apps. The largest growth has been in the Android Market, now showing 35,947 apps and an annual growth rate of 403 percent.
- The iPhone is a strong platform, but it only accounts for 10 percent of the worldwide market of touch-screen devices. If a company simply employs an iPhone application as their sole mobile strategy, they are only pursuing 10 percent of the market.
- mCommerce/ Shopping & Services continue to dominate the Mobile Touch Web, representing over 22 percent of the 440,100 sites compared to the App Store where equivalent services represent fewer than 4 percent.
As always, there’s much more information in the actual report, which can be downloaded here. In addition, Taptu has put together a “Virtual Roundtable” centered on the future of the mobile touch Web, which includes discussion and insight from various industry though leaders. Download the presentation here, it’s definitely worth a look.
