comScore: Increased app usage shaping 'dual mobile browsing experience'

Although there are plenty of debates about the benefits of optimized apps over HTML5 and vice versa, many mobile users are opting for both, according to new research about mobile and connected devices from comScore.

The 2012 Mobile Future in Focus report first found that last year, mobile app usage exceeded the growth in mobile browser use in both the United States and Europe. However, both markets also saw the same percentage of their mobile audiences use both apps and browsers to access mobile media.

Interestingly, health was actually declared as the fastest-growing mobile media category in this realm, then followed by e-commerce fields such as retail and mobile payments.

comScore's senior vice president of Mobile, Mark Donovan, explained in the report about these trend shifts in multi-device digital media consumption last year and what they will mean for 2012:

2011 proved to be a groundbreaking year for the mobile industry, with smartphones hitting the mainstream, tablets emerging as a formidable fourth screen, and consumers increasingly integrating mobile behaviors into their lifestyles. As the industry continues to innovate and more consumers look to multiple devices and platforms to consume digital media, we expect the mobile and connected device landscape to be shaken up even further in 2012. As mobile channels present a more personal, social, and ubiquitous experience to consumers, advertisers and publishers have an opportunity to better engage target audiences, given an understanding of how to connect and leverage the unique characteristics of these emerging platforms.

Other major topics uncovered in the report include the surge of smartphone and tablet shipments and the inevitable increase in media created for these devices, as well as more information about smartphone owner shopping behaviors.

For reference, the report focused on mobile markets in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada.

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