UK leads Europe in mobile commerce growth
Mobile commerce is growing at a rapid pace in Europe, but one country has established a clear lead over other when it comes to driving this growth forward. According to data from Vente-privee.com, a leading European online retailer, the United Kingdom has established itself as a leader in the mobile field. The data suggests that the United Kingdom is the most mobile-centric country of the eight largest European nations. This has helped mobile commerce establish a strong foothold in the country, from which it can spread throughout the rest of the region.
Data shows 37% of sales come from UK mobile devices
The data from Vente-privee.com shows that approximately 32% of its sales come from mobile devices. The majority of these sales (53%) come from tablets, with approximately 47% coming from smartphones. Tablets have been growing more popular as mobile shopping platforms due to their large screens, which make it easier for consumers to navigate online stores. The data also shows that some 37% of online sales come from the United Kingdom, with France accounting for 29%.
UK consumers prove to be very mobile-centric
UK consumers seem to be more reliant on mobile devices than those in other countries. Many of these consumers have grown up with a strong involvement in some type of technology and have thus developed a strong affinity for mobile devices and other such technologies. This has enabled the UK to embrace mobile commerce more readily than other countries and retailers in the UK have been significantly more aggressive than others in their adoption of mobile payments.
Lack of mobile websites could slow growth over the long term
While mobile commerce is growing in the United Kingdom, this growth has been hampered by the relative lack of mobile-optimized websites. These sites were initially designed to be used for PCs rather than mobile devices. As such, mobile consumers often have trouble navigating these sites and making use of what mobile commerce services they may provide.
EA has high hopes for next generation mobile games
Major game publisher Electronic Arts believes that the next generation of mobile games will have the same graphical capabilities of games for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. This would have been a bold claim, if mobile technology had remained relatively stagnant over the past few years. Technology has, however, advanced at a very rapid pace and modern smartphones and tablets are equipped with hardware that could rival the current generation of consoles.
Mobile games manage to gain popularity with modest graphics
Mobile games are already quite popular among consumers, so much so that they have begun to cut into the sales of console games in some parts of the world. These games have not won consumers over by offering high quality visuals, however, as most mobile games are designed with very simple, approachable graphical content. The modest graphics of most mobile games is directly linked to the hardware capabilities of smartphones and tablets. Until very recently, these devices have not been designed with gaming in mind, thus did not boast of high performance graphics processing units (GPUs).
New technology enables games to become more visually impressive
Because smartphones and tablets have become major entertainment platforms for many consumers, device makers have been working on making these devices more accommodating of mobile games. Electronic Arts notes that the progress these devices have made in terms of graphical power has improved significantly over the past two years and could lead to a new generation of mobile games that provide a visually stunning experience as well as one that is enjoyable for consumers from a gameplay standpoint.
Graphics engines could signal a bright future for mobile games
Electronic Arts notes that many of the graphics engines that it uses for console games can be modified to be used on mobile devices. These engines are common in games that have been made for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles, but have seen minimal use in the mobile sector. As these engines become more available to developers and help usher in a new generation of smartphones and tablets, mobile games may soon become a much larger and more prolific part of the game industry in the near future.
