A new research report from Gartner predicts that by 2013, the mobile phones will have overtaken PC’s as the most common way to access the internet. At that point, Gartner predicts a global installed base of 1.82 billion phones able to connect to the internet, compared with 1.78 billion PC’s.

The key implication is that companies need to insure that their websites, portals, and web applications adequately support mobile devices.

The mobile devices are actually composed of two different types: smartphones and “enhanced phones” (have media or application capabilities but no local OS). The smartphones represent 1.32 billion units, and internet capable enhance phones make up about 500 million units.

Gartner further predicts that in 2013 the majority of pageviews will continue to be on large format devices such as PC’s, but the majority of website accesses will be via mobile devices. A little further out, in 2015, the mobile will take over as the most common primary means of accessing the web.

A couple of the key implications cited by Gartner include:

• Companies need to be sure that their websites, portals, and web applications fully support mobile devices.
• In general, mobile users are prepared to make few ‘clicks’ than PC users before arriving to their desired content. Companies need to keep this consumer behavior in mind as they further develop internet presence.
• Organizations with consumer facing web sites are more at risk of reduced customer interaction if mobile is not supported than business-to-business applications. This means that governments and educational institutions need to keep this in mind, as do online retailers, banks, and financial service providers.

For more information, see the Gartner website.