It's a Mobile + Multi World

Single-consumption mode is now a thing of the past, and you need to adjust for that.

Earlier this week, three Googlers came out with a study looking how we use our tablets, and while the result is not surprising, it does once again illustrate just how massive the mobile trend is.

First, when looking at what people use a tablet for, it's clear that we use it for pretty much everything, with email, games, and social networking taking up the top three spots.

And when look at where we are using our tablets it is also clear that a tablet doesn't belong in any single place. Sure we our tablets a lot in the couch or in bed, but it's not limited to that.

It's the same when we look at primary versus secondary activities. There is no single consumption mode anymore. We play a game or read a book while waiting. We watch TV while checking email. We check our social networks while eating.

Arguable, this study is limited by its very small sample group (33 people), and as such we cannot make any conclusion other than the bigger multi-use trends. But it is still a very interesting study.

And when then compare to another great (also by Google) looking our new multi-screen world, we see that not only do we use our devices in a multi-location world, we also use multiple devices throughout the day.

You can see the fullmulti-screen study here (PDF, 46 pages, 115 MB)

This is the future. Single-consumption mode is now a thing of the past, and you need to adjust for that.

You can no longer make a product for just one device, one location, on time period, or one use. You have to be mobile + multi at all times. And mobile doesn't mean something you see on your smartphone.

Mobile is a verb. It's not a thing, but an action. It's you as a person who are mobile, and we are mobile because we use different devices, in different locations, in different modes every day.

If you limit your audience to a single consumption mode, you are working against their freedom to be mobile.

I wrote much more about this in:

• The Real Mobile Shift - For Publishers (18 pages)
• The Real Mobile Shift - For Brands (15 pages)

In the years ahead, this trend will become even stronger, and soon it will be how we expect the world to work. It will expand to far more devices that what we have today. TV being one of them... but think of connected devices, across services and platforms.

Head over to my Google+ post to comment and discuss this trend.

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