In february, Mobility Nigeria featured a news item on Armenia and Nigeria leading Mobile Web Growth in 2008.

In that article, our editorial team stated as follows:

But at the current growth rate that Nigeria is pushing, it shouldn’t be long before the West African country shows up on the Top 10 list – and probably climb all the way to the top. Nigeria is currently number 12 on the Top 35 countries (unique users) list.

Approximately two months later, that prediction has come to pass.

In an email update we received from Opera this morning, the company stated that “a surge of Opera Mini usage in Nigeria pushed that country into the top 10, displacing Germany“.

For years, I repeatedly stated that mobile is the future of the web. No; desktops and notebooks won’t go away, but mobile devices will become the de facto means of accessing the web. Today, more people access the web via mobile than via PCs. I am not a prophet. But I did say so – years ago.

Here’s a supporting quote from Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera:

“A mobile phone will be the device most people use to access the Web. As millions of people each month discover the Web through Opera Mini, content providers have an incredible opportunity to seize competitive advantage in this new medium. By simply ensuring their content works on any device, they will open themselves to the next generation of Web users.”

I couldn’t have put it better than that.

Related Links:
1. Mobile Data: Bridging The Internet Divide In Africa
2. A Case for Mobile Data