While Apple and others would have us believe that apps are the way of the future, a new survey finds that many mobile users are quite happy getting their news from a simple old web browser instead.
Forbes is reporting that mobile apps may not be all that when it comes to how consumers are reading news on their devices. According to a new survey by Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, 60 percent of tablet users are perfectly happy getting their news from a web browser instead of an app.
That number jumps to 61 percent for smartphone users, and both statistics have jumped considerably since last year, when a mere 40 percent of U.S. adults were getting their news from a mobile web browser.
So how many are actually taking advantage of mobile apps? A mere 23 percent, a number that was only 21 percent a year ago.
The survey did find that the iPad is still the preferred choice for those using apps, with 75 percent of the 9,153 consumers who participated favoring Apple's tablet. Browser lovers, on the other hand, appear to be split right down the middle between the iPad and some flavor of Android tablet.
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Mr. Peabody
October 01, 2012 at 8:04pm
I'm not generally prone to foul language on blogs, but - F#&! the web browser, with or without an iPad. MS tried to do this to the world a decade and a half ago by trying to make an OS that felt seamless between browsing the web and browsing the local machine. Web browsers are nothing but a necessary evil. Dedicated ereaders, especially if they're well done, are hands down and without a doubt superior to using the web for every dag gone thing. And by the way, the Nook on iOS and OS 10.8 and iPad and iPhone and iPod Touch is actually fantastic. Apple's own iBooks is really, especially when compared with other ereader and PDF readers, a most excellent reading experience. Even the latest version of the Kindle reader for iOS kills any web reading experience.
I wonder what a more realistic conclusion is from the Forbe's report, like for instance, maybe simple awareness has a lot to do with the apparent stats that Forbe's obtained. Browsers are long standing and pretty ubiquitous, such that, users may conclude without first-hand experience that, using a web browser is "good enough". Remember the computer using public has been well brainwashed by MS that "good enough" is, well, good enough, until you give something else a try. I wonder how much of that 60%, as reported by Forbes, would easily change to using dedicated reader apps given 14 to 30 days. I'll wager a lot of that 60% would change permanently.
It's an awareness issue, it's really not a preference issue.
brandonwalkermedia
October 01, 2012 at 5:05pm
i almost never use the web anymore! then again i still don't own an iPad to use the web allot!
