mobile web majority?

A recent report indicates that there are now an estimated 2.7 billion mobile users. For website designers such as myself, this brings up a number of issues that need to be addressed with regards to delivering mobile content on the web. In fact, it is estimated that there are only 800 million personal computers, so one could even go so far as to say that there may be more opportunities in catering to mobile users than their land-locked counterparts. Of course, we need to take into account how many mobile users actually use their phones to access the web. At this point, only my most savvy friends have tried it, but as phones get easier to use and internet airtime gets cheaper, the masses will inevitably catch on.

From what I can tell, some new devices (like the Apple iPhone) are actually serving up full size versions of the web to mobile users, while offering the ability to zoom into content, rather than reformatting to fit into its tiny screen. But with iPhone's $500 price-tag, you can bet that even in a year or two, there will still be many users in the mobile community that will be using the traditional mini-version of the mobile web rather than the slick zooming phone browsers.

With 2.7 billion users out there just waiting to look at your webpage in an entirely different format, it appears that the time is now to make your website mobile friendly. Anyone who doesn't will be left behind and is sure to miss out on potential visitors.

For a good site with some intuitive advice on developing mobile content, I recommend checking out Cameron Moll's Authentic Boredom site.