Last week, Facebook announced that its mobile users exceeded desktop users for the first time in the company’s history. The trend is not just Facebook-specific. Use of the internet and web-based applications over mobile devices is becoming increasingly popular, not just globally, but domestically in Pakistan as well.
And what could be a better time to realise the importance of internet accessibility on mobile phones than these days when mobile networks are shut down without so much as a meaningful prior warning. Mobile applications such as WhatsApp and Viber become the chief means of communication when SMS and calls via mobile networks cannot be facilitated.
Necessity really becomes the mother of invention as more and more people in Pakistan, especially in mobile-network-affected Karachi, explore the option of mobile phones that allow internet accessibility. Thanks to Chinese replicas of well-known models and locally-made cellphones, the choice of an internet-compatible phone is not a pricey one anymore.
In fact, mobile networks have acknowledged this rapidly growing popularity of internet on the phone, as evident from internet packages offered by nearly all mobile operators in the country. However, the ability to get connected via WiFi internet is the new rage that offers much convenience, as nearly every public place in Pakistan, from cafes to hotels and malls have a free wireless connection for customers.
It’s the mobility that mobile phones (pun, indeed) offer that helps trace the popularity of having the internet on the go. Be it for navigational purposes as one uses the GPS to locate a friend’s house, or to scroll through a news website on the way to work, mobile internet offers much flexibility for anyone.
Having said that, mobile internet is not out to get internet on the desktop as the two have different purposes and utilities on their own. For example, how much can you expect to accomplish on the mobile as far as job-related work on MS office is concerned? Or, on the flipside, how much can you walk around with a laptop in your hand, trying to do some window-shopping while chatting with a friend on WhatsApp on a day when the mobile networks have been shut off?
The new force is a stark reminder of how the society is advancing on the technology platform. In fact, it’s more a necessity than just a fad, more so for Pakistan where even a mobile connection cannot be completely relied upon for communication purposes.
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