Smartphones' Share of Online Traffic Grows, Tablets, PC Usage Shrinks, Says Report

Tablets’ share of mobile traffic fell in every country last year, said a Monday report from Adobe Digital Insights. In the U.S., tablets generated 8 percent of total web traffic, down from 10 percent in 2014, it said. Discounted tablets over the holidays were some of the hottest selling products of the season, but sales haven’t translated to traffic, said analyst Becky Tasker. Overall U.S. website traffic has remained flat for the past three years, said ADI, with smartphone device usage growing at the expense of other devices. Smartphone visits to the web grew 69 percent since 2014, as desktop and tablet visits declined by 23 and 14 percent, said the research firm. Though the mobile segment is a “battleground” for companies, “the app boom is over,” with installations down 38 percent in the past two years and launches down 28 percent, said Tasker. ADI said consumers in developing countries are bypassing PCs and going straight to smartphones to access the internet. Brazil and Argentina are rising fastest in share of smartphone traffic, said Tasker.