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Do Mobile Users Prefer Browser To Apps?

  • eMarketer, Wednesday, October 27, 2010 1:08 PM
Amid a boom in mobile applications, consumers still believe that Web browsers offer a superior experience in key categories, according to a new poll conducted by Keynote Systems on behalf of Adobe. In the words of eMarketer: "Games, music and social media were the only categories in which users would rather use a downloaded app than browse the mobile web" -- a statement that made us wonder what else consumers use their phones for.

Well, ecommerce for one, where users still show a strong bias toward mobile browsers for accomplishing every mobile shopping task imaginable. "Whether it was researching product and price info or sharing that information socially, mobile users would rather fire up a browser than a dedicated app," eMarketer notes. Furthermore, survey respondents preferred regular sites -- versus mobile-optimized sites -- in both the consumer products-shopping and media-entertainment categories. Overall, a third of US mobile phone subscribers used a downloaded application in August, according to comScore, and app downloads have shown impressive growth, according to eMarketer.

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