It wasn’t until 2010, before the mobile web market in Canada had developed into a major leader in wireless telecommunications. It is easy to see how, as Canada is the second largest country in the world (geographically). As its landmass dictates, Canada had to develop essential communications to keep pace with other western countries developing the same technologies. Its geography, harsh winters and placement of population is an administrative nightmare as far as installing a major telecommunications network that can evolve.
As a result, by 2010 The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association helped to ensure that:
Canada was one of the first countries to establish a 3G network which covered 90% of the population. Investment by 3G carriers meant Canada was ahead of the game and still continues to develop its mobile web market.
By 2009, 66% of the population were using mobile phones - with four million using their mobile phones to browse the internet.
Twelve months later, by summer 2010, there were 23 million mobile phone users* and this is expected to increase to 27 million by 2014.
With the recent leap forward in technology, especially with android and iPad phones, we can expect the mobile web market to increase steadily.
Potential and Growth
Unfortunately, Canada still has one of the most expensive mobile networks in the world and it is costly for consumers to own mobile telephones. With these high prices, consumers can’t be blamed for being reserved when investing in new mobile price tariffs. With the world in somewhat of a recession, mobile marketing companies especially in Canada, have very little room for manoeuvre and competition is not as aggressive as it might be elsewhere on the globe.
In a recent survey conducted by TNS, the world’s largest research company, it was revealed that 41% of the respondents (predominantly men in the 22-30 year old category) own a smartphone; compared to an average of 28% globally. Canadians are also more interested in the content that their phones can access - Facebook and YouTube being the foremost sites accessed. In 2009, 6% of Canadians accessed social networking sites using their mobile; this figure had risen to 24% by 2010 and rose to 36% by 2011.
To quote Ron Caughlin, Vice President of TNS Canada: “Canadians are leaders when it comes to adapting latest technologies...... We’re past the days of using mobiles to merely text or even email – smartphones are providing us with the ability to seamlessly connect our friends and even finances.” The younger ‘tech hungry’ Canadians have already turned their attentions to the next big things: the ‘mobile wallet’ and the ‘tablet’.
The mobile providers are now offering faster products and the system has become ever more reliable. Using cloud computing services, from Google Docs for example, users can gain access to their work and documents from wherever they are, resulting in more flexible working.
Looking to the future, phones, tablets and other gadgets will be designed to be more lightweight and smaller than before and mobile web access will remain at the forefront of this continuing evolution.
