The Mobile Takeover - BuzzDirector

Mobile is Eating Your Website

In 2011 Marc Andreesen famously said that ‘software is eating the world‘. Andreessen argues that a fundamental shift is underway in which entire industries are disrupted. The new realities of a connected world where software is easier/cheaper than ever to build will change the landscape across the entire economy:

More and more major businesses and industries are being run on software and delivered as online services—from movies to agriculture to national defense. Many of the winners are Silicon Valley-style entrepreneurial technology companies that are invading and overturning established industry structures. Over the next 10 years, I expect many more industries to be disrupted by software, with new world-beating Silicon Valley companies doing the disruption in more cases than not.

This idea is take one step further by Andreesen’s colleague Benedict Evans, who posits that ‘mobile is eating the world’. Evans notes that it’s not software in general that’s driving this change – it’s mobile specifically. Mobile device adoption and mobile app consumption are the biggest consumer movements in the history of the world. Check out some of these stats in his excellent presentation:

Lastly, yet another Andreesen colleague argues that the mobile web – using a browser on your phone versus using apps – is dying. Apps rule, according to Chris Dixon, in The Decline of the Mobile Web. In 2014 86% of mobile activity was in apps, not in mobile websites – up from 80% the year before.

What’s the takeaway? The world is moving to the mobile web. If your website isn’t mobile you’re giving over half of your visitors a substandard experience. And more importantly, if you’re digital marketing strategy isn’t highly focused on mobile you’re missing out on huge growth for your business.