Feature Article

Free eNews Subscription>>
April 18, 2013

Mobile Learning Set For Big Climb In North America

The rise of mobile technology throughout North America, and along with it has prompted a rise in mobile applications. Not surprisingly, mobile learning products are among the list. But what may be a surprise is just how much mobile learning is set to grow in North America even over just the next five years.

A new report from Ambient Insight says that, in 2012, mobile learning products in North America represented $1.4 billion. That's an impressive number in its own right, but when it's considered that the market is set to grow to $2.1 billion by 2017, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.6 percent, that makes an already impressive number downright staggering.

Asia is the only continent that has a larger revenue than North America in terms of mobile learning, but there's a huge discrepancy in terms of how the North American mobile learning market breaks down. Canada, for example, offers up a 20.8 percent growth rate. The United States, meanwhile, turned in a comparatively paltry 6.1 percent growth. Perhaps the biggest factor accounting for this difference is that the United States is a mature market for mobile learning products, having had such products for over 10 years now.

The report went on to cover issues of both supply and demand, examining issues of buyer behavior across all segments of North America and how they differ, explaining why using United States buying behaviors as the basis for buying models elsewhere would be a big mistake. Additionally, there are quite a bit of separations by topic for the various markets. Both Canada and the United States are heavily focused on consumer learning, especially in consumer and healthcare segments, but the types of content purchased vary wildly between the two countries.

Throw in an increasingly different amount of materials - reports indicate that, just between 2010 and 2012, over 60 different mobile learning tools came into being, rendering comparisons difficult at best. What's more, the Ambient Insight report cites over 170 different suppliers of mobile learning products, making it clear that this is a broad and varied market.

It's easy to see why mobile learning is seeing growth. With people taking advantage of time with mobile devices to learn new things, with teachers using different tools to reach students, with a surprisingly robust home school population coming into play not only in the United States but around the world in general, there are a lot of factors that can easily be called contributing to the rapid growth of the mobile learning segment. There's usually at least some demand for education on one level or another, and the rise of mobile learning better allows its users to accommodate a variety of schedules, making it flexible, accessible, and most likely to be used.

Mobile learning may not reach the levels that the Ambient Insight study suggests it will, but it's clear that mobile learning will be a pretty major part of the landscape for some time to come.




Edited by Ashley Caputo


FOLLOW MobilityTechzone

Subscribe to MobilityTechzone eNews

MobilityTechzone eNews delivers the latest news impacting technology in the Wireless industry each week. Sign up to receive FREE breaking news today!
FREE eNewsletter