Can't they just wait 'till they get home!? More users are having their Web on the go...

If you don't live under a stone, you can't have helped noticing how many people are accessing web services via their mobile these days, either while walking around, on the train or even while they should be concentrating on driving their car / van / very heavy-HGV. Be it iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre or HTC, LG Choc-ice or whatever is the latest bit of bling kit, a recent puff from the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) shows how many more people are using mobile devices as the primary way of getting their daily web fix.

Increase in internet-on-the-move
The report says that some 71 million Europeans are browsing the mobile internet in a typical week and, with about an hour a day actively spent online via their mobile (6.4 hours per week), ‘internet-on-the-move’ is more popular than reading than reading newspapers (4.8 hours) or magazines (4.1 hours). For the group the EIAA polled in any case

As usual, it's the young early adopters that are driving this increase with almost a quarter (24%) of 16-24 year olds and 21% of 25-34 year olds already using the mobile internet, spending 7.2 and 6.6 hours on it respectively each week.

As the EIAA says "This trend of increased consumer reach and time spent online looks set to continue with improving internet coverage, speeds and services. Marketers would therefore be well advised to recognise how consumers are increasingly engaging with the internet, at more times throughout their day and across a myriad of interactive touch points, and ultimately use this insight to develop effective multi-media marketing strategies."

Some of us have been bleating about the importance of mobile web for years, and how it will soon be the de facto web access method for many. Well it's happening. The chickens are really coming home to roost, this year.