Benedict Evans’ provocatively titled Mobile Is Eating the World presentation caught my eye the other night. In particular slide #30, for a reason I’ll get to in a moment.
Mobile, or more precisely smartphones and tablets, would apparently be missed the most among (UK) children aged 11 to 15 years. Mobile, more than TV, games console, PC, and “Other”, though it’s not entirely clear what Other would represent. Perhaps playing outdoors or some random non-screen-oriented activity.
I’m not at all surprised by this statistic. This evening I arrive home to find my 8-year old son glued to his iPad on yet another one of his ongoing and seemingly never-ending Clash Of Clans campaigns. This is homework procrastination at its finest, a game that easily sets the benchmark (at least in our household) for what’s been called a ‘sticky’ experience.
No other game even comes close —not Skylanders —not even Minecraft. It’s only a matter of time before Finland based Supercell (the makers of Clash of Clans) are snatched up by Microsoft or some other tech behemoth looking to further monetize the tablet-obsessed 8 to 15 year-old demographic.
