4 ms·

The proliferation of mobile makes web traffic go up, not down. Mobile is a bigger slice of the pie, but the entire pie is bigger. Desktop web traffic itself app

The proliferation of mobile makes web traffic go up, not down. Mobile is a bigger slice of the pie, but the entire pie is bigger. Desktop web traffic itself appears to be growing, not shrinking. I've had to correct the distortion of these numbers before (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5847337 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5847337), and I'll do it again. Using Wikimedia as an example, as mobile accounts for a bigger share, overall traffic is growing significantly, and even desktop traffic is growing, not declining: Wikimedia June 2012: 149,085 M requests - http://stats.wikimedia.org/archive/squid_reports/2012-06/SquidReportOperatingSystems.htm http://stats.wikimedia.org/archive/squid_reports/2012-06/Squ... Wikimedia June 2013: 223,725 M requests - http://stats.wikimedia.org/archive/squid_reports/2013-06/SquidReportOperatingSystems.htm http://stats.wikimedia.org/archive/squid_reports/2013-06/Squ... As you can see, Windows declined in share from 70.45% to 56.10%, but total number of Windows desktop requests grew from 105,035M to 125,520M. Similar pattern with Mac Desktop. Mobile means more web traffic, not less, and desktop web traffic is also growing.

cageface 13y ago
You make a good point. I think it's also important to keep in mind that mobile may be growing but it's also becoming increasingly difficult to build a software business on mobile. The top 20 apps on both leading platforms are gimmicky IAP games and users have been trained to complain about paying more than $2 for anything. If I were starting a new software business today it's very likely I'd completely ignore mobile and focus on the more lucrative desktop/business market.
- hippee-lee 13y ago
  > users have been trained I'm not sure about that, users are just cheap in general. That's why sales and discount mega stores are so successful. Speaking for myself, the more apps I buy, the more I'm willing to spend on a well crafted or useful piece of software with the expectation that gimmicky ads will not be there and the in app purchases actually do add value on top of the purchase. Two apps in the $8-$20 range that I regularly use right now are Gaia GPS & Paper by 53 (although I'm slowly swapping that out for Procreate).

cageface 13y ago

You make a good point. I think it's also important to keep in mind that mobile may be growing but it's also becoming increasingly difficult to build a software business on mobile. The top 20 apps on both leading platforms are gimmicky IAP games and users have been trained to complain about paying more than $2 for anything. If I were starting a new software business today it's very likely I'd completely ignore mobile and focus on the more lucrative desktop/business market.

hippee-lee 13y ago
> users have been trained I'm not sure about that, users are just cheap in general. That's why sales and discount mega stores are so successful. Speaking for myself, the more apps I buy, the more I'm willing to spend on a well crafted or useful piece of software with the expectation that gimmicky ads will not be there and the in app purchases actually do add value on top of the purchase. Two apps in the $8-$20 range that I regularly use right now are Gaia GPS & Paper by 53 (although I'm slowly swapping that out for Procreate).