TIL: The Majority Of The World Runs On 2G

What I Learned

While attending a talk at DevFestNYC, I learned that, while the U.S. is pushing the boundaries of 4G and even 5G, the rest of the world is connected mostly with 2G connections. This changes the trend that mobile web apps are developed and deployed as considerations for mobile data, reliability and speed of slower connections must be accounted for when building web apps. It also highlights the prevalence of mobile technology in relation to user interface with the web, with mobile web interaction growing exponentially in the past few years.

And why exactly is this interesting?

1. It makes developers take a closer look at emerging markets worldwide, putting a focus on optimizing the mobile web experience.
2. It's a byproduct of the leap frog nature of technological developments worldwide, as most global users' first experience with online technologies is via smartphones.
3. It shows the importance and prominence of the mobile web presence in today's markets, as most people connect to the web via mobile devices.

Comments

[Jess Lee]

Crazy, right? This is something we (@ben especially) obsess over!

[Ben Halpern]

Yup. And I really think that if you build for an experience that works at all on less reliable networks, you end up with an app that is pretty damn snappy on good networks.

Somehow, web development has "evolved" to the point of downloading massive apps just to load simple landing pages. This should be avoided.

[Adrian B.G.]

Yes, but, depends on your target audience, profile and monetisation model.

If you want the best ROI you only need US and a few other countries. I mean the ppl that probably will pay in your app have a good internet connection.

Anyway we have tons of libs now days to optimise websites,so it shouldn't be an excuse, but still I saw the other days a random support replying "we only support chrome", so ... We can just be better ourselves and lead by example, like dev.to is crazy fast 😚

[Jcazub]

That's very true. Widespread, global support is becoming a growing trend, but many apps and websites today are built with the US market in mind.