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GigaOM: The year in mobile apps: Where we’ve been, where we’re going

Smartphone and tablet purchases have been on the rise for several years, but 2011 was a turning point: This was the first year that these mobile devices outsold desktop and laptop PCs. The effect — and perhaps some of the cause of this — is a love affair with mobile apps, leading to more apps sold than ever and more time spent with them than ever. We mobile consumers demonstrated this very clearly both in the U.S. and abroad: Apple this month hit 18 billion downloads total on its iOS App Store, and Google’s Android Market likewise hit 10 billion.

CTG Partner Rich Relevance Study: Apple’s iPhone, iPad account for 90 percent of mobile purchases via GigaOM By Darrell Etherington

iPads and iPhones accounted for over 92 percent of online retail sales not originating from a desktop device occurring in December, according to the study. That’s up from 88 percent the last time RichRelevance in April, and it easily beat out Android and other competing mobile platforms. Shoppers on Apple devices were also willing to spend more, with an average order value of $123 vs. Android’s $101, and $87 from those shopping from traditional desktop operating systems. RichRelevance used data from 3.4 billion online shopping sessions between April and December at U.S. retailers ranging from specialty stores to major e-commerce sites. Mobile shopping is still a relative drop in the bucket compared to its desktop companion, with just 3.74 percent of total online retail dollars spent in the U.S., but that number is growing. Thanks in large part to the success of Apple devices, mobile web shopping has doubled in eight months, and RichRelevance CEO David Selinger says the trend will only accelerate. Key to being a part of that growth for retailers, Selinger suggests, is “ensuring a seamless experience across the interplay of device, context and consumer behavior.” Mobile devices seem to be most used for shopping at times when users don’t necessarily have immediate access to other types of computing hardware. For example, RichRelevance found that during Thanksgiving, 24 percent of shoppers visiting retail websites were on mobile devices, the highest share between November and December. On weekends traffic spikes, too, up to 17 percent from an average of 14 percent during the period measured.

IBM report: iPhones and iPads accounted for 10.2% of Black Friday online retail traffic

“ Last minute shoppers were 45 percent more likely than regular shoppers to purchase luxury brands and 27 percent more likely to plan to spend more on holiday shopping this year than last year.

— Adweek: Last-Minute Shoppers Like Luxury Brands?

Tumblr: 2% of users making up 43% of total visits

(via Tumblr Numbers: The Rapid Rise of Social Blogging)

Survey Reveals Growing Digital Media Use Among Affluents

Internet use is already essentially universal among the affluent, with 98% going online. The surprising finding from the 2011 Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent survey is that in the past year alone, affluent internet use rose about 20%, to more than 30 hours in a typical week. Ownership of devices that serve as on-ramps to the connected world rose significantly among the affluent as well: ownership of smartphones rose by a third, ownership of e-readers nearly tripled, and ownership of tablets more than quadrupled.

The Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey defines Affluents as adults aged 18+ living in households with at least $100,000 in annual household income, our study reflects 58.5 million Affluents. Although they are fewer than one-in-four Americans by number, they disproportionately account for most of the income, most of the net worth, and, in many categories, most of the consumer spending in the U.S.

Mashable: iPads Now Driving More Web Traffic Than iPhones

Smartphones and tablets — particularly the iPad — are becoming an increasingly significant source of web traffic in the U.S.

According to web analytics firm comScore, smartphones and tablets accounted for 6.8% of all web traffic in the U.S. in August.

Approximately two-thirds of that 6.8% came from mobile phones, while the remaining third came from tablet devices. The iPad dominated the latter category, accounting for 97.2% of tablet traffic.

The iPad is driving more web traffic than the iPhone, accounting for 46.8% of all traffic originating from iOS devices in August, compared to the iPhone’s 42.6% share. iOS’s total share of U.S. mobile web traffic in August was 58.5%.

Tablet ownership continues to be prevalent among young, wealthy males. ComScore found that 54.7% of tablet owners using the web in August were male, and nearly a third were between ages 25 and 34. Almost half were members of households that earned more than $100,000 per year.