Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Race of Mobile Internet


I just read an article all about how users of mobile internet are not those we stereotypically think of. We think of these users as affluent, middle-aged, white men. Well, this is now proving to be wrong. The ethnic group adopting mobile internet the fastest is actually African Americans!
African-Americans the most active users of mobile Internet, they are also the fastest growing group to adopt the technology: the percentage of African-Americans using mobile phones or another type of connected gadget to share e-mail, exchange instant messages and access the Internet for information on an average day has more than doubled since late 2007, jumping to 29 percent, from 12 percent.
While it's surprising, it's great to see that in some areas, the racial divide is weakening and becoming non-existant. Now if only this would happen in all areas.

Not only is the color of mobile internet changing, age is as well. This isn't a big surprise though, since it is becoming more and more normal for teens and young adults to be at the forefront of the technology landscape.

Apparently, while home computers/laptops and monthly broadband charges can be out of the reach of some homes, mobile internet is not a huge additional cost if just added on to an additional phone line. This is how African-American and Latino mobile internet usage is on the rise.

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