Sorry, did I say two years until mobile internet rules?

Latest survey from Harris Interactive (reported on Brand Republic, see link below) reveals that already more than half of all 16-24 year-olds "prefer to access internet content from their mobile network provider via their mobile".

Sourcewire clarifies this: It's not so much about the preference for using mobile internet, as about the youth market insisting on freedom when doing so. They don't want to be coralled behind walled gardens.
The message is that if you have a mobile internet offering you should make sure it's available both sides of a walled garden arrangement with an operator.

From m-send, the people the survey was done for: “At the moment we are in a similar situation to the early days of consumer use of the internet when most people used CompuServe as it was simple, easy to use and correctly formatted.
"However, users soon realised that there was much more available to them outside of this walled garden, as companies realised that it was actually very easy to create websites themselves,” comments Chris Astle, Managing Director of m-send.
“The result of this survey shows that at the moment the vote is split, but we firmly believe that as consumers become more aware of how easy it is to use the mobile internet, they will be demanding access beyond what is offered by their network operator. Getting the offering to those consumers right, will definitely give some companies a competitive edge.”

But all this is before we see the impact of 3's new free-at-the-point-of-use mobile internet deal, which may well make inside-or-outside of walled gardens, moot. To me, optimisation full stop, is the key.

I'd add links to previous things we've posted on this, but blogger is playing up again. I'll try later. In the meantime; use the label links below to find related items:

Full Brand Republic story: