If so, that would be a 97 percent increase over 2009 sales, driven largely by consumer adoption of units such as the iPad, iPhone and Google’s Nexus One phone.
The Gartner report was targeted at hardware vendors, but provides guidance for content creators as well. As touchscreen and mobile devices grow in popularity, media companies need to adapt their digital offerings to fit the way consumers want to interact with these devices.
According to Gartner analyst CK Lu, “Consumers won’t buy a mobile device purely for the touch UI. Touch technology is just an enabler, and ultimately, it is a compelling user experience — which includes good UI design, applications and services — that will make or break a product.”
And, many of those applications and services will be news and information, without which, as Rupert Murdoch said earlier this month, these mobile Internet-connected devices are just “empty vessels.“
