Slow Web access is chief mobile complaint

Speed issues are No. 1 in people's complaints about accessing the Internet on their mobile devices, a U.S. research firm says. Two-thirds of consumers surveyed by Keynote Services gave "Web pages being too slow to load" as their leading frustration with the mobile Web. "Even though people make accommodations for [using] a tablet or smartphone, over time those [accommodations] for differences will begin to shrink," Don Aoki, senior vice president of professional services at Keynote Competitive Research, told Marketing Daily. "People don't care what kind of device they're [using], they're trying to get something done or get some information." Sixty percent of tablet users said they expect a wait less than three seconds for a Web site to load, while nearly two-thirds of smartphone owners expected pages to load within four seconds, the survey found. Sixteen percent of respondents in the survey said they will not return or wait for a Web site to load if it takes too long. "Mobile consumers have options on how they can access and consume their digital content," Aoki said, noting 6 percent of those surveyed said slow loading of a Web site would send them to a competitor's site. "For brands, it's critical to integrate and develop mobile strategies that are viable across multiple types of mobile devices."