Everyone knows that mobile web use is growing rapidly around the world. It's time to put some numbers to that statement.

Source: Chitika

20% mobile traffic in North America

Smartphones and tablets combine to make up just over20% of total web trafficin the US and Canada.

Smartphones and tablets make up 14.6% and and 5.6% of traffic respectively. This is not surprising – smartphones and tablets have outshipped notebooks and desktops since Q4 2010.

What is surprising is that even though 59% of smartphones shipped were Android devices (compared to 23% for iPhone), iPhone's still make up 74% of smartphone traffic.

Apple's dominance is even more stark when looking at tablet traffic – the iPad makes up a shocking 95% of tablet traffic.

40% mobile traffic in China provinces

Baidu, China's equivalent to Google, has released stats from the first quarter of 2012 that show mobile browsing makes up 40% of traffic in 5 major Chinese provinces.

What makes this especially interesting in the contrast between Chinese and North American traffic. While iPhone and Android devices dominate North American mobile browsing numbers, they make up a mere 5.8% and 14.4% of mobile browsing in China.

Instead, Chinese mobile browsing is led by 2G phones, totalling 85% of browsing, while "knockoff" fake phones make up 16%.

What this means for your business

The first thing you should know when starting to design your mobile site is what devices your audience are using.

When looking at aggregate data from the Mobify Network:

• 58% of traffic comes from iOS devices
• 34% comes from Android.

If your mobile traffic looks like this, it is clear that your site should focus on looking great and performing flawlessly on modern, robust mobile browsers.

However, if you are running a site – like Baidu in China – and your mobile traffic is primarily from feature phones with less capable browsers, your mobile site should be simpler and cater to the more basic devices.

Key takeaways:

• make sure your website is optimized for mobile to take advantage of mobile web growth
• know what mobile devices are accessing your site and cater towards them

Want to talk to a mobile strategy expert? Contact Mobify here.