Mobile Internet with grow to encompass all

At first, social networking was the domain of the college crowds, but it has quickly grown to encompass all demographics. The same will happen with the mobile Internet according to mobile browser firm Opera, but for now it’s the domain of young men.

by Helen Leggatt

opera%20software%20logo.jpg Over 83% of young men use their mobile phone to access the Internet, found a survey by Opera. In comparison, just 16% of women do so. It should be noted that most of Opera’s users are aged 18-27.

Data for the survey was based on findings from the top 10 countries that use Opera Mini, including the U.S., Russia, South Africa, U.K. and China.

However, Opera chief executive Jon von Tetzchner doesn’t believe that young men will continue to dominate in the use of the mobile Internet. Why? "Because accessing the web on mobile devices will become more pervasive than accessing the web with computers, we expect that over time one gender or one age range will not dominate," he said.