Mobile Reading Trends At AVC

Comments (Archived):

1. How do you explain that all mobile devices seem to grow and decrease at the same time (but in different magnitudes)? Some kind of change in the measures? Does that correlate to any referrer?

   1. it would have been better if i ran the numbers for every month. i only ranthe numbers every three months but then graphed them over time. so i thinkwhat you are seeing is a dip in march and then growth in april. for somereason march visits from mobile was down as a percentage of visits relativeto december 2010 and april 2011. i think it may be related to one or twoposts in march that drove a ton of traffic and much of it was web based.bottom line, i don’t think it’s a big deal.

2. If Amazon produce a tablet then those growth rates will go through the roof.I wonder how Flipboard is counted by Google Analytics

   1. i agree. android tablets are the big wild card in these numbers

      1. I’m also a big believer in Android, but I’m starting to lose my faith in that mythological Android tablet that will be comparable to an iPad, cheaper and will conquer the market.

   2. There are two ways that Flipboard can used Google Analytics: the TrackPageview function creates a virtual pageview which is displayed in GA as a PageView or the TrackEvent function which tracks any event that you bind to an element such as starting or stoping a video.

3. Interesting numbers and pretty much in line what I’ve seen elsewhere on the web. Mobile is coming -– fast!May I suggest that you turn off smoothing on you graphs though? I can suggest trends that aren’t there and produce artefacts like the iPad numbers between Dec 09 and Mar 10 where you apparently negative visits from iPads.

   1. yes, i could have done a lot to improve the graphs.

4. My guess is those of us using apps like reeder (google reader client) are not counted until we click through to see comments.

5. What are smart phones are for? Slowly should replace the puters from the desk… if they are not becoming as smart as computers in the next 5-6 years then better be not there as “smart”…only thing that is missing is fold-able screen. I am not sure whether i will see it in my life time (i am 45 now).

   1. No – they should become atrix- like, and we should have public terminals for doing serious work….

6. With growing mobile traffic to AVC, isn’t the obvious choice to build AVC mobile applications for the iphone/ipad, Android, Blackberry, Windows…etc?This way, AVC can be easily accessible by all smart phones in an organized format.Monetization can branch out as well with mixed advertising and premium app downloads.

   1. i’m a fan of the web on mobileapps are great for some thingsbut i like to read in a browser and so that’s my frame of mind regarding AVC

   2. i read avc.com when i can…and it’s usually on my blackberry. looks great to me…almost no need for mobile app imo.

7. This data is really interesting in the context of the iOS vs. Android debate. Android has overtaken the iPhone in market share, but seemingly not in usage. Do you think this a product design issue or is it a reflection of different user populations? Does the iPhone number also include the iPod touch or is that a fifth bucket? It will be exciting to watch as more sites publish data like this and provide a glimpse into true mobile consumption.

   1. our portfolio companies and the companies we meet with are almost all seeing more downloads from android these days, but still see more daily users from iOS. it’s product and user base combined

      1. Do you think that will change, or are there differences in users who buy. I actually was talking with someone recently about this – without usage, developing for a platform is kind of pointless

8. What will be very interesting is to see how mobile will be monetized.Right now it is early days – and when I see more than 50% of listening at Pandora on a mobile device – you know there is money flowing there, but not necessarily in an organized way – as it is with SEO or SEM.Reading on the mobile device certainly creates engagement with the device in a different way than music – so should be monetized similarly to the web – but the opportunities for far more interactive and immersive ads should drive some interesting forms in the future.

   1. i think in stream audio will be one of the best ways to monetize mobile

9. I read the Globe and Mail every morning on my Android. That particular newspaper is well designed for mobile. Smart phone reading need smart design. I remember you re-designed your site a long time ago. It made a huge difference. Now I read it every morning on my phone, too.

   1. that’s a great point. nathan did a great job optimizing for mobile

10. It’s fascinating to watch how our content consumption habits are moving to mobile. I don’t think we should be surprised. It’s like fast food. Mobility, instant gratification, want it now, when I want it, have been dominating traits in this country since the 50’s.Consuming web content on a mobile device is similar to a McDonalds drive through.It is fun to watch the transition. And to think, it’s only the beginning.

    1. hopefully more nourishing and less fattening

       1. That all depends on what Internet drive through they chose to go through. Theres a lot of crappy AND nourishing food on the net. Ya gotta love choice. 🙂

11. i’ve started reading AVC through the Reeder app (iOS).amazing RSS reader for both iOS devices, and really handy on the go, but unfortunately means i’m less active in the comments on here lately. :-/

    1. our loss reece

       1. sorry Fred. just been on a different schedule.will make an effort to get back in the comments as usual..**

       2. He’ll be back.Other priorities cause regulars to wax and wayne in their visits.Didn’t you see the great pics of Reece sleeping in the TechStars office?

          1. i missed that unfortunately

             1. here it is :)http://twitpic.com/4h20of

             2. Looks like he fell asleep leaving a comment on AVC

12. Might the iPad be flattening because among your early-adopter audience those who would get an iPad all ran right out and got one ASAP? The iPhone, on the other hand, continues to grow as contract expire.

    1. could be

13. Interesting. I read AVC on either ipad or iPhone, depending on where I am at. Most astonishing is Apple’s combined 5 to 1 margin over Android. However one reads it, great blog Fred.

14. Part of this depends on how people consume and repurpose the information from all the blogs they read. For instance, I will read a lot of casual stuff on my Droid, but not all the blogs and sources that are on my feed. There’s just too much work and associative stuff that I do that is much faster on my desktop. It’s lite vs heavy reading and processing. While I agree this points to a megatrend and the stats are great, the showstopper will be bandwidth and speed. With content caps and low-mega data rates being offered up by the wireless carriers because backhaul is monopoly controlled, desktop processing is and will be more efficient from a time and cost perspective in a giga+ world. The data caps we are seeing today for wireless are in the 5g area, while for wireline they are 150-250g. Big difference. We need to focus on this as a mega(retarding)trend as well. Bandwidth played a role in the late 80s and early 2000s busts.

    1. that is why my partners and I spend so much time on public policy around spectrum and telecomm policy

15. Investable: that is a Peter Thiel word. 🙂 …. You took the wise decision months back to reconfigure this blog for mobile consumption, the format, etc. ….. Reading your blog feels like a conversation anyway, and so a lot of people figure they might as well just get on the phone with you. 🙂

    1. “get on the phone with me”nice one Paramendra

16. I read your blog on a Kinde DX, but to post I use my ‘puter. I can type on the Kindle, but it isn’t as good an experience. Eventually I’ll buy a true tablet, but for me, they are not their yet for creating content…

17. Investable? Perhaps we should talk! My company Wattpad is the largest community of readers and writers with a very strong focus on mobile reading.

    1. aren’t blogger and wordpress communities of readers and writers?isn’t the web a community of readers and writers?i don’t mean to be argumentive, but i’ve come across a number of businessplans to build communities of readers and writers and i don’t reallyunderstand that notion very well

       1. This is a big topic.Yes of course you are correct that the web is a community. But isn’t there a need for niche sub-communities of interest–wine, education, and on.Not all blogs are communities per se. The readers make them so and the commentors more so. It would seem that there is an argument that either Disqus becomes a broader thread to intertwine the blogs or there is sense for vertical niche communities that aggregate readers and blogs into more dynamic groupings.It is still hard to connect around topics of interest. My sense is that there is still a need for this.Not a full blown idea here from me, just a gut check.

          1. What topic of interest is it hard to connect around? How so? (Not devil’s advocating, just curious.)

             1. connections->conversations->community->connections+That’s my very general premise. Being more precise around interest connections is the great promise. Not by producing more and more content nor by boiling the friend’s graph for relevance. But searching implicitly.Two points jump at me:-Some communities are so niche that while there is some dynamic conversation, the discussions are scattered and disconnected. Artisanal/natural/organic/biodynamic wine (in descending order of specificity) is one. Posts, sure. Discussions, few. Community, not that I’ve found.-Unthreaded discussions even with participants doesn’t breed community. Example might be GigaOm. Great writer, juicy topics, primitive commenting system that fights conversation. Or the raw food industry. A number of ‘stars’ and a growing number of interested people, but no discussion as Disqus is nowhere to be found.On the first example, it’s a scattered subject looking for connecting threads. On the second (raw food) its actually less scattered but running on old roads and flat tires.Glad to discuss further.

             2. So (at least part of) the recipe is a focused (not necessarily narrow) topic + up-to-date tools that foster community?Throw in a dash of indirect moderation in the form of engagement by the community’s leaders (like Fred Wilson does so well) with that and, hey, you get yourself a stew.

          2. +1 for Disqus to tackle this.

          3. “topics of interest”…we’ll have to chat about this.

             1. Glad to. You have my contact points Charlie. In SF, home Friday.

             2. I’m meeting Charlie in NY Friday as well-> hope we can sync up.

       2. Yes, the web is a big community of readers and writers but there are many forms of writing. Blogging like Tumblr is one form. Fiction and storytelling like Wattpad is another. Here are some key differences:- The content (blog is more transient)- The way the content is created and consumed (quick snack vs immersiveexperience) and especially how the experience is optimized for mobile- The community dynamics and social/taste graph- Last but not least, monetization strategy can be very different too

          1. You mean “readers and writers” in the sense of old ‘belle-lettre’?

          2. aha, i got it nowthanks

18. In regards to the iPad numbers, couple very hypothetical things that might leed to undercounting:Larger screen means more Rss reader use, personally never touch a reader on the small phone screen, but use one all the time on the larger pad screen. No idea if that holds for othersSimilarly the non Safari browsers are a lot more compelling (to me) on the larger screen than smaller. At least some of those offer the option to spoof the device ID in order to force sites to load the regular pages as opposed to mobile optimized ones. If the stats are only for iPad safari, or perhaps even if one of the popular alternatives is set to spoof it’s device ID by default, it might cause that chart blip as people migrate.Or of course people are tiring of their iPads…

19. Disqus needs a plugin for the mobile browsers like Dolphin (android)…something where I could comment on literally any web-page out there. If the site owner has enabled disqus comments, it goes in just as on web. If not, it’s there for other Disqus-mobile users to see and react to.

    1. Agreed +2.

    2. There’s a market for a mobile focused glue/disqus tool.I’d buy/use/evangelize/write one.

       1. Im in. Email me lets do it

          1. MAYBE WANT TO HOLD BACK. DISQUS MOBILE ABOUT TO COME OUT.

             1. Can’t wait to see this!

20. I wonder when we’ll see the Kinect as a platform enter into these numbers. Hopefully soon- though it may require Nathan to make some further tweaks to the interface.

21. With the ability to do almost anything on my Blackberry Curve except watch anything with Flash or read PDFs, I find less use for a computer. I currently own two Blackberries. I only use the one that has wifi because it’s more convenient than using a laptop. One can use mobile any where. I have a habit of sleeping with mine. I blame social media for that.Not saying that computers are not very useful. I think of the last time I owned a computer any time I’m asked to write a business plan or “create” a prototype. I’ve yet to know of a PDA that can do everything a computer does. From what I hear about Iphone, it comes really close. That’s a bit scary to me. The thought that there might come a time when we don’t need computers or laptops because our phone does it all.I recently read a book called Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart, which focuses on technology and for some reason none of the characters used computers. I don’t even think they knew what computers were. Their handsets kept getting smaller, until it was a necklace.I’m debating whether to follow the masses and get an Android (I will never be cool enough for an Iphone) or stay loyal to my RIM and hope they become cool again. It’s like a stock market. Do you sell your brand and move to a bigger and cooler brand or stick with your brand hoping it cool points goes up?With the Blackberry Playbook coming out with Android components. I think I will stay loyal for now.

    1. If you accept a tip from a stranger, go for Android.I was also hooked to my Blackberry until recently. I was reluctant to give up a real keyboard (and what a keyboard!). But the desire for a few apps made me change and I can’t be happier with my Nexus S. I’m now quite fast typing in a touch screen (not the same, but there are a lot of alternative keyboards to the stock one that help, I use Swiftkey but also liked Swype), but can also use a really good browser and a few great apps. In my case it’s been easier because I use all Google services and the integration is amazing.

       1. i could never make iPhone work for me, but i finally was able to move off blackberry with android

22. You are getting lots of love from iPhone/iPad users- that’s for sure.It’s possible that the flattening of iPad traffic is tied to the tepid growth in general purpose news aggregators (e.g. FlipBoard, etc.)

    1. Interesting thought William. Have you seen data on the tepid growth part? That would be very interesting..

       1. I’d like to see the data too. Does ComScore provide this?My remark was based on a guess.———————–William MougayarFounder & CEOEQENTIA, Inc.T +1 905-584-8686 | [email protected]://portal.eqentia.com

          1. woohoo let’s all call William he forgot his sig in the the reply :()

             1. I swear it wasn’t intentional! But I don’t mind calls from friends or prospects.I wished Disqus could strip it out.It’s a pain to delete it on the iPhone each time 🙂

             2. Totally understand, I ended up modifying my sig on my phone just to avoidit.I think you can enter something that cues the cut off in disqus replies

             3. http://jarodl.com/post/5060…YOU NOT NEED TO ON IPHONE SOON.

             4. But that’s for site owners, right? I just checked it.We need an app where you can make/view comments for the sites you follow,straight from the App, like a Disqus Reading App…Mark- I wonder that the stop code is: # or 10-4? 🙂

             5. ME THOUGHT IT SAME AS WEBSITE. IT HAVE SAME “EVERYTHING” TAB.THAT THE TAB FOR MAKE/VIEW/REPLY TO COMMENTS.

23. P.S. I just remembered that I can watch Flash on my Blackberry. It depends on the Browser. I have four browsers on my poor phone. The default browser which is great for downloading, Two different Opera mini browsers which are great for personalizing and Bolt browser which is great for Blog writing and crappy video watching.

24. The most interesting stats there for me are the Blackberry numbers, because I wonder where Blackberry will be in a year. For most of my friends (if not all), who are generally late 20s/early 30s, Blackberry’s not even in the conversation of what kind of phone they want next. It’s either Android or iPhone. I’m guessing AVC has a lot of Blackberry user readers–they just aren’t reading the blog on their phones.I personally prefer reading AVC on my computer as to my iPhone because it’s easier to read and add comments. But it looks good on the iPhone, too.If you update/edit the stats Fred, I’d love to see where Windows Mobile falls on the chart.

    1. 6 visits from windows mobile last monthbelow symbian and danger

25. Very interesting. We (by we, I mean Pontomobi Interactive, mobile shop in Brazil; and McCann) have just completed an extensive survey that shows big numbers from people accessing blogs/social networks more frequently on their mobiles than on PCs. And we know linkage is a big part of the whole sharing/conversation routine. Question: what was your traffic source? Are all these numbers organic or originated from other sites (which ones)?This is a huge claim (if one is still needed – it shouldn’t) for properly adapting your content to mobile.

    1. i’d like to figure that out

       1. half my work day is sometimes spent in google analytics, and i’ve had to use some other tools to get good mobile reports from google analytics; i would gladly volunteer my time if you wanted any help.

26. It’s bc our toddlers have stolen our ipads and won’t give them back.

    1. so true. the perfect computer for a toddler

27. Interesting stats. I’d love to see more data like this. I know the analysis in Analytics can be time consuming. Might be fun to have a guest post by someone from the AVC community who you provide access to your Analytics account for a third-party analysis of your site stats.

    1. i’m game

       1. I’d be happy to do the analysis myself unless you have someone else in mind, but may not be for a couple weeks. I’m heading to New Orleans tomorrow for a week (JazzFest!) and I’m sure I’ll be swamped with work when I get back. I’ll email you after that if it sounds interesting.

28. Fred your mobile readership is probably a lot bigger because google analytics does not track traffic comings from apps like flipboard, pulse, taptu and other agregators…and those apps are quite popular with the type of readers you have

    1. Great point. And for that same reason, iPad is probably the most likely to be under-reported.

       1. May be a correlation between iPad dips and Flipboard/etc releases.I know I’m kinda excited about Feedly for ipad. But I don’t bring the ipad with me everywhere, I leave it in the living room where my wife and I both browse on it. At home it competes for browsing usage with our desktops and my living room macmini.

          1. YES. ME, GRIMLOCK, GUESS IPAD JUMP THEN DIP REPRESENT NEW IPAD OWNERS TAKING WHILE TO FIND GOOD READING APPS.

    2. yup, i was headed in that direction with my comment about the iPad

       1. Hi Fred.Can I convince you to try Mobile Analytics by PercentMobile on your blog? This is what GA genius Avinash Kaushik had to say about us: http://percentmobile.com/p463You will get an accurate view of your blog’s mobile ecosystem — devices, mobile phones vs non-phones (like tablets, gaming devices), carrier vs WiFi network, mobile specific referrers and referrer categories, trending, and more. GA is probably underreporting your mobile traffic as well as throwing US BlackBerry users into Canada where RIM’s proxy servers are located.All the action takes place on a single screen and the reports are extremely easy to filter and interact with.

          1. If its drop dead simple and doesn’t impact page load speed

             1. Yes, it’s drop dead simple and no noticeable impact.I will set up the account and email you the tracking code, instructions, and my contact info. I will also send you an invite to access the account.Simply have the person who handles your blog templates contact me if he/she has any questions.Sound good?

29. The smart phone is the new bathroom newspaper…

    1. totally!

    2. i did a presentation to HR/IT professionals about why they should stop blocking social technologies in the enterprise (they mostly do it bc they are concerned about work productivity). I can’t remember the exact stat, but the access of Facebook and Twitter from the toilet using mobile devices was surprisingly high (and the stat got a great reaction from the crowd 🙂

30. Would love to find out which platforms these people were using on mobile devices to read the blog – Flipboard, Pulse, Zite, etc…

    1. I read a recent stat fro Pew that most people with an Ipad still read content via a sites website more than with the readers. I agree… seems very strange.

       1. can you cite

          1. I believe it was on Business Insider a few months ago. I’ll try to find it when I get a spare breath..

             1. thank you sir

31. Fred,I think you are touching on another very interesting topic. Should you develop for mobile first or stick to the web? In our case over at XYDO, we did an analysis showing essentially what your data shows in regard to the way people consume content.We have watched the entire lemmings world charge after the next Ipad reader, and yet sit back thinking, this is still a fraction of the way that people consume content? Additionally, that consumption rarely involves what one would define as engagement. Now, clearly most VC’s are lemmings too, thus the attraction to get funding feels better, and the press tends to follow along as well.In our case, we took a hard look at the real anchor tennants — Without exception, they all started on the web and were very slow to move to mobile. There is no denying it is relevant to be where and how people want to see you, but what comes first? Examples included Facebook, still no ipad app, Twitter, Stack, Linkedin and on and on…So the way we bridged the gap was to make our content work across all of the current mobile apps, knowing that we will of course develop our own in due time. I guess time will tell as to what is the correct strategy.Love to hear your thoughts.

    1. If it matters I still read primarily on browsers, even if they’re mobile. A close second is instapaper, that app’s amazing (and I read it on the web as well).

       1. Thanks Mark,Same with me. I do use mobile…but.. principally for when I’m — you guessed it. Mobile. I think the readers are in the end a bit of a fad. I used mine like crazy for a few days and then when back to old habits. Maybe I’m old school, but I feel the same way about reading content in magazine format. I don’t that in the real word, why would I now? Because it’s on a particular device?

    2. i prefer to read in a broswerit has all the features i’ve come to know and love

       1. You spend so much time on our behalf with advice and comments, thought I’d give a little back. Check outhttp://www.xydo.com/subject…to see a community I created for USV with all the news and blog posts from your entire portfolio. Of course, can also be obtained via live search in the app.Eric

32. Hi FredWe have ad tags in thousands of newsletters and see/assess users in a similar fashion.Our numbers for email newsletter users generally track your numbers.Over the past 2 months, iPhone is the biggest opener of (obv HTML) email, in our sample (thousands of newsletters across dozens of publishers most US), with Android, iPad and Blackberry following in that order.iPhone 8% of email ad impressionsUnknown mobile 3% (could be weird smartphones or blackberries)iPad and Android tied at 2%Known blackberries at <1%iPhones handle HTML, cookies and render email better. I would expect that when people see your tweets or read you on BI/SAI, they click through reliably. Same for iPads but they are less prevalent.Blackberries have a crappy HTML email and Crappy web experience overall and also handle cookies and fire pixels less reliably, thus bad numbers for them.Thanks for sharing!

33. Any chance the numbers are distorted by the most frequent commenters who check back in many times a day being much more likely to be mobile users?

    1. I don’t think a few of us can move that numbers in a significant way… andif someone does he should go to talk someone about that addiction! Also, Ithink that most of that checking back is done through email. At least that’smy case, but you can see a few more that do the same because Disqus has somekind of problem with gmail responses and does weird line breaks.

       1. i instantly knew your response was from email when i read it on my email!i think some commenters must return enough that it can have a significantimpact on the numbers, but i’m not sure.

    2. ME, GRIMLOCK, USE CHROME ON DESKTOP, HIT REFRESH 3,495 TIMES EACH DAY.SO IT BALANCE OUT.

34. Mobile, mobile mobile. It’s finally really coming together. I remember when Handspring came out with its cellular module for their first PDA–clunky, not well integrated, dead slow, but it showed the promise. The Treo–a relative brick but better. iPhone 1–still use it as an iPod.Then iPad changes everything again–not the first tablet, not the most features, just the most intuitive, such that 3-year olds and 80-year olds can use it without instruction. Love it. (note I skipped blackberry).Combine ubiquitous, unbroken interconnectedness with location and other contextual signals, and it started to get really, really fun and interesting. I love this era.

    1. exactly

       1. US LIVE IN FUTURE.EXCEPT FOR JETPACK PART.

          1. http://martinjetpack.com/

35. To quote Mark Zuckerberg: the iPad’s not mobile… it’s a computer.

    1. i think of my android as my favorite computer

       1. Well said: I think that Zuckerberg could have put it better.However, having watched my girlfriend’s use of an iPad (notwithstanding that a pool of one doesn’t make for statistical accuracy) I tend to agree with him that iPads (certainly 1st generation ones), tend to be better suited to the sofa than the train or the bus.

36. I use instapaper for both iPad and iPhone, guessing that’s not tracked.

37. You know what else your graphs are telling me?Almost all of those lines are S Curves. Tipping point?

    1. i think so

38. Any idea where the traffic is coming from on the various platforms? Would be interesting to see the referrals — what’s coming from email, twitter, facebook, direct, etc. — and whether it’s the same for each platform. Very curious to see the developing trends in mobile navigation and behaviour.

    1. can i get google analytics to tell me that?

       1. Yes, look under Traffic Sources –> All Traffic Sources –> Show: Source/Medium –> filter by ‘containing mobile’ and then ‘containing m.’I’m sure there are other ways to do it or you can create a custom report, but this is a quick and easy way to get a glimpse.

          1. Ooh thanks!

          2. @andreaitis:disqus : I only did a quick check, and I am not an expert Google Analytics user, so could be wrong, but what you suggest does not seem to be a reliable way to filter for only mobile device traffic (which seems like what you’re trying to do by those steps, so that you can see the breakup within mobile, such as email, twitter, facebook, etc.). It seems to rely on matching the strings you suggested entering as filters (such as “mobile” and “m”) against the domain/site the visitor is coming from, which will only “work” – randomly, if at all – if both these conditions are true: 1) the domain contains the string “mobile” or “m” and 2) the visitor source is also actually a mobile device, not a desktop – low likelihood of both conditions happening, and anyway, we’re not looking for likelihoods here, but certainties. Condition 2) – alone – is what should really be checked for, IMO. Condition 1) is irrelevant and may even give wrong results a lot of the time. In fact, using the string “m” as a filter is even more likely to give wrong results than “mobile”, since the letter “m” can occur in plenty of domains/sites that have nothing to do with mobile devices (e.g. every “.com” site contains letter “m”) and are not mobile devices themselves. There may be a way in GA to check for condition 2) alone. I’ll check and if I find it, will post back here. Another simple option – using what I call Condition 1) – i.e. your filters – _may_ work: filtering on “mobile.” and “m.” – note the trailing dot in each of those. But that is not quite guaranteed either, since there could be a site like, say, mobile.gigaom.com, which is not a mobile device the user is coming from, just a site about mobile tech.A final point: filtering first on “mobile” and then again on “m” is redundant – since any site that contains the string “mobile” also contains the string “m”.- Vasudev

             1. Re my “A final point:” – to clarify – it _is_ redundant if GA ANDs the filter conditions (in which case, we can just use “mobile” only), but not if it ORs them, but then again, if GA uses OR for filters, we can just use “m” only, since the condition: (CONTAINS “mobile” OR CONTAINS “m”) is logically equivalent to just CONTAINS “m”. May sound hairy, but it’s just basic Boolean logic … :-)These links may help:http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…http://www.howstuffworks.co…The howstuffworks.com above article calls Boolean logic “outrageously simple” – once you’ve got the hang of it, and it is, really.

             2. Hey Vasudevram – I meant to get a glimpse, it’s not a full-out accurate view. And I suggested ‘mobile’ and ‘m.’ (that’s m+.) so that it would bring up mobile sites like mobile.twitter.com and m.facebook.com. People coming from those sources are likely on mobile devices. Thanks for the notes and the links, though – will take a look.

             3. Hey Andrea ( @andreaitis:disqus ): (Your last comment to me doesn’t seem to have a reply button/link for some reason – maybe comments are too deeply nested for Disqus), so I’m replying to my own last comment, but it is actually addressed to you):Sorry, I missed the fact that you had used m plus a dot. I read it as just an m. If it had been just m (which I thought was the case), it would have resulted in lots of wrong results (for reasons I gave earlier), which I wanted to highlight.BTW, I did check about what other way there is to filter for mobile devices, and Google Analytics (GA) does have a way:Go to the GA left pane -> Visitors -> Mobile -> Mobile DevicesThat should do it. I tried it on my own blog, it shows the break up by mobile devices such as Android, iPhone, iPad.But you’re right, in general, no site or technique may be able to give perfectly accurate analytics or statistics – a fact that Fred has also mentioned before, IIRC. Whether it is Comscore, Alexa or whatever, all of them are only approximations, since there are too many factors involved.That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use them, though …- Vasudev

39. Another good evidence that mobile has to be treated first.Just for a strange coincidence, a few minutes ago I found out that, speaking of how to read news with mobile, your avatar is used in the banner of a news reader on the Android Market: https://market.android.com/… (to be seen not with a mobile). 🙂

    1. wooti love that!!!

       1. your avatar is used by feedly on their login page as well

          1. Awesome. I should pay them for the exposure

40. Paging @msuster,@cdixon,@bijan,@albertwenger. Assuming you run analytics on your site, I’d love to see how your mobile audience compares in terms of device usage trends.

    1. did you tweet this comment out?

       1. Yeah, sent to Twitter via Disqus.http://twitter.com/#!/DanEp…And thanks for the Windows Mobile numbers.

    2. mobile traffic is about 14% on my blog. see screenshot.

       1. Thanks Bijan. Interesting. Lots of Chrome and iPhone.

41. Fred, you’ve asked me to pitch in you these comments before but I’m not sure I’m ready.You keep hammering on mobile so I thought I’d ask, at what stage do you want to talk to entrepreneurs?I have a working prototype now, but I have a couple months worth of work before I have a releasable product if I continue to work on it by myself on nights and weekends.Should I get some traction before I pitch you?Should I try to find some local (Chattanooga) angels in the meantime?I’m sure you’ve covered this in a previous blog post, but I’ve only been reading AVC for a few months now.

    1. i prefer to get the first pitch before you really want money so we have time to watch and observe

       1. Makes sense. Lines, not dots right?Is email the best way to contact you?

          1. yes

42. Interesting to see that iOS mobile visits to this blog have been dwarfing Android visits.A while back, you wrote a post about how Android was on track to be the dominant mobile operating system (I quoted you in an article about that, btw, “The Battle for Dominance among Mobile Operating Systems”). I wonder if these stats temper your relative bullishness on Android at all.

43. Great post Fred. It would be interesting to see if you have enough of a sample to determine if there is a difference between regions. One thing that we have noticed is that the trends are considerably different between NA, EU, and APAC for example.

44. For a while, I frequently read AVC on my BB Bold until it died prematurely and the insurance co. sent a Torch as a replacement. Pretty much hate it — Opera Mini crashes on it which means I don’t read AVC on it any longer. A real bummer — especially when traveling and standing in the security line at 5:00 a.m.Funny, it was AVC influence that moved me over to BB. That same influence is moving me away. Also funny how this community cultivates an appetite for apps. Of course, I’m headed over to Android.Although I am interested to see how the Playbook turns out. For some reason, I want RIM to win.

    1. :)))))))))))))))))

45. Of course for nowadays a lot of people have smart phones. and its much easier use them for the visits to AVC.thanks for you researching!

46. Are the Android numbers for all Android devices – phones AND pads? In other words, does the Android column need to be equal to both iPhone and iPad to have equal usage? As the Android 3.0 tablets are just coming out, I’d like to think that number could spike?

47. I have trouble with studies that lump iPad in as a “mobile device”, unless they include a laptop as a mobile device– and if they did, I’d challenge the study even more. At least today, the majority of people use the iPad as a laptop replacement, rather than mobile phone replacement. Many iPads don’t even leave the home.Sure, iPad has blurred the lines. And I would accept a 7″ version like my Galaxy Tab as a mobile device since it fits in my pocket (albeit barely).

48. btw: i don’t know how the peanut gallery here missed that part of the graph above that shows negative absolute use of the iPad for part of that period 😐

49. a) will android tablets be broken out? hmmb) no WP7? 🙂

50. I use my iPad for almost all my blog/article reading now, with Google Reader as my RSS manager and MobileRSS as my iPad reader app. As others that have commented below, I suspect Google Analytics is not tracking mobile iPad readers like myself.Keep up the good work on the blog Fred. The topics you choose are great and your comments are insightful.

51. According to ComScore, “Apple iOS Platform Outreaches Android by 59 Percent in U.S. When Accounting for Mobile Phones, Tablets and Other Connected Media Devices”http://www.comscore.com/Pre…

52. do you have the information of geography? Are those only American data or include others? what’s the percentage? curiously 🙂

    1. Sorry Nacs i don’t know about geography…. but i want to know about geography..

53. Fred – There may be a simple explanation to this! I prefer reading your blog on the iPhone rather than my ipad since it is always short and manageable on an iPhone. On the other hand I would not read Mark Suster’s blog on the iphone since he has longer entries!

54. I leave it in the lounge where my spouse and I both browse on it. At home it competes for browsing usage with our desktops and my living room macmini.Office Furniture

55. Everybody knows you can’t take a proper dump without an iPhone these days. You are on my free iPhone rss reader. I have never even seen your site on a pc.

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