The devices that visited the Bredemarket website so far in 2026: desktop (including laptop), mobile, and tablet. At 0.3%, tablet visits barely register.
Why?
Other reports suggest that Bredemarket’s readers skew older, which explains the large representation of computers. Others (experienced and less so) view the world through their smartphones.
But no middle ground?
No people who want to be mobile, but are frustrated by the constraints of a small smartphone screen?
Or is Bredemarket an outlier here and other websites receive more tablet love?
“To provide a complete view, it is also important to note the market share of tablets, which consistently account for approximately 1.8-2% of global traffic. While a tertiary category, tablets represent a distinct use case that blends mobile portability with a larger screen experience.”
Mobile internet coverage in Africa is one thing. African mobile internet usage is another. And the latter is lacking.
The 1990s game of leapfrog in Africa
I grew up in the United States of America, where phone landlines were built first and mobile phone connectivity followed.
But I observed something different on a 1997 business trip to South Africa.
Mobile internet coverage in Africa. Google Gemini.
Freshely freed from apartheid, South Africa was still impoverished, with many citizens not having phone service. Rather than build landlines out, one township skipped right to cell phones. Much lower infrastructure costs and much more rapid deployment.
The 2020s conflict between coverage and usage
Afterwards, old fashioned cell phones gave way to smartphones, providing immense power in the palm of your hand.
Theoretically.
Lack of African mobile internet usage. 906 million people have connectivity but don’t have smartphones. Google Gemini.
Biometric Update reports on a “roadmap” issued by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA). and the Partnership for Digital Access in Africa (PDAA). The roadmap cited good news and bad news.
The good news: in 2025, the majority of people in Africa had access to broadband mobile internet.
The bad news: 906 million of those people, of 60% of the population, were not using mobile internet in 2025. This locked them out of many digital services.
GSMA and PDAA urge several solutions, including making smartphones more affordable, providing training in “digital skills,” and making sure the network is at 4G/5G levels (some areas only have 2G/3G).
And if your company has a solution that you need to communicate to your prospects, learn about Bredemarket’s content-proposal-analysis services at https://bredemarket.com/watch-book/.
Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, everyone had to carry a physical driver’s license and a physical passport and a physical key and a physical everything.
Until the smartphone allowed us to place these things, and others, on our phone.
“Lose your phone and you may need to prove your identity to the civilization you were just participating in 9 minutes ago.
“Try logging into your bank. We’ve sent a code to your phone.
“That’s the phone I’m trying to replace.
“Try your email. We’ve sent a verification request to your trusted device.
“I HAVE SOME TERRIBLE NEWS ABOUT THE TRUSTED DEVICE…
Try changing your phone number. Please verify your old phone number.“
Of course there are recovery methods if you lose your phone, but they are intentionally designed to be high-friction to keep bad people from claiming they lost your phone.
Or, as The New Unhinged puts it:
“Account recovery is dangerous because whoever controls recovery can potentially control the account.”
Add fraudster techniques such as SIM swaps and IMEI number alterations and it starts to seem more safe to keep stuff in our (physical) wallets.
But what of multi-device authentication methods?
“Better passkeys, portable credentials, multiple independent authenticators, improved account recovery and genuinely usable offline alternatives could make identity less dependent on one device or phone number, not more.”
Of course, identity on multiple devices can complicate things if one of those devices is compromised.
“Hi, your technician Chris…from…is on the way to….Chis [sic] is a skilled HVAC technician who takes pride in providing reliable service and honest solutions. He’s known for his friendly approach and putting customer comfort first on every job. Call our office for any questions…”
But unlike my ISP, I don’t get a cool map showing me where Chris’ truck is.
United States passport applications may soon become easier, allowing you to do nearly everything online. Even the passport photo, saving you a trip to a location where someone or some machine wilk take the passport photo for you.
“Now, beyond that I would say that we are also looking at some technological changes, which we’ll be more fully able to announce over the coming months, where it’s going to be a lot easier to get a passport in terms of the dynamics of it. You’ll actually be able to go online. You’ll be able to do almost all of it entirely online. One of the questions we had was most of the devices that people are using, be it a laptop or a standing computer or what have you, where you would fill out this application, they have cameras on them. I know, it’s shocking. But they have cameras. They have videos that people use.
“You should be able to take that picture on that device as opposed to going somewhere. Now, the CVS people, of course, hate this, and the Walgreens and all those other places. (Laughter.) But you’ll be able to take your picture from that device and be able to have it in real time, through our security system, verify the facial ID. And it just saves you a lot of – you don’t have to go down somewhere now and get a head shot and get the little pictures that you have to cut and then submit three passport pictures. You’ll be able to do that. You’ll be able to do it online entirely, for the most part, with all the right numbers. They’ll be able to verify it for you, and you should be able to get it much sooner.
“So we’re going to make it a much more customer-friendly – we’re not ready to do that yet, but that’s really what we want to be able to do. (Applause.) And it should cut down on the long waits, the long lines, the appointments, the making – some people may still decide to do it that way, but this way will be available to people. And we look forward to, like, really rolling that out in a few months when it’s ready.”
Secretary Rubio didn’t go into the technical details of how they will ensure ICAO compliance for smartphone photos. What about the lighting? What about the inter-eye distance? What if I smile?
After all, smartphone photos are by definition “unconstrained,” unlike the photos you get at your friendly neighborhood CVS Pharmacy.
Smartphone games are not games. They are ad delivery devices. You start the app, and you see ads for other apps. You download the new apps, and the cycle continues endlessly.
So I was playing a Bitcoin-earning game (actually a Satoshi-earning game; don’t count on earning 1 Bitcoin in an hour’s worth of play) when I saw an ad for a poker game app. An update of the Yahoo! Poker games from long ago, the app screen shows five faces surrounding a poker table. Except these are not still images, but video with audio sound.
So I am watching the ad when one of the players says:
“Life is too long for bad poker hands.”
Read that again.
Life is too long?
Shouldn’t the player be saying that life is too short? The statement makes no sense the way it was said.
But sometimes a turned-around, wrongly-worded phrase is illuminating. Take the time that John F. Kennedy intentionally reversed a phrase to joke about our nation’s capital:
“Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.”
Apple and Google (and probably Samsung) defend their lockdown of their app stores (and the resulting 15-30% or so cut they receive from app revenue) by saying that their “App Store” and “Google Play Store” provide safety to users. Would you want to risk your phone by downloading from sleazy sources, or would you prefer to get your apps from the name that you trust?
If that were true, I wouldn’t have to clean a particular person’s phone every once in a while because he downloaded an app from one of those stores, which then proceeded to download a bunch of other apps.
But on the other hand, there are sometimes legitimate reasons to “sideload” Android apps (Android Package Kits, or APKs) from alternative sources. Maybe the app is one that shouldn’t be accessed by run-on-the-mill consumers, so therefore an alternative distribution mechanism is needed. I could name some examples, but if I named them I’d have to kill you.
But as Lifewire notes, you have to take a few extra steps to allow downloads from outside the App Store and Google Play Store.
The biggest step, of course, is to allow the download of “unknown” apps from non-Apple/Google sources. Needless to say, you should only download apps from a site that you trust. No, not mikrosofft.com.
Open the Settings app and tap Apps or Apps & Notifications.
Tap the three dots in the upper-right corner. If you don’t see that, skip down to the next step.
Tap Special access, or Special app access on some Android devices.
Tap Install unknown apps.
Tap Chrome (or whichever web browser you use).
Switch the toggle next to Allow from this source so it turns on.
I have an old iPhone with a Lightning charger port. I can’t buy this today in the European Union. (Or anywhere, but we’ll get to that.) Why? Because of the EU’s Common Charger Directive.
“Because the EU has standardised charging ports for mobile phones and other portable electronic devices, all new devices sold in the EU must now support USB-C charging.”
Which devices?
“From 28 December 2024, the rules apply to mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, headsets, videogame consoles, portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systemsand earbuds sold in the EU.”
So all of this went into effect in 2024?
Um, no.
Laptops
Because there is one additional requirement.
“From 28 April 2026, they will also apply to laptops.”
(Sorry, desktop computer users. You may still have old style power connections.)
Google Gemini.
For the record, Bredemarket’s U.S. purchased laptop already has a USB-C charging port. Because when the manufacturers were forced to implement this for Europe, it was easier to do it for the rest of the world.
So everyone is happy and enjoying the EU’s listed benefits of consumer convenience, e-waste reduction, and cost savings.
Yes, everyone is happy…for now.
The future
But what happens when wireless charging supports up to 240W? Then you get some REAL cost savings, because manufacturers—especially of small devices—can reduce cost by eliminating charging ports altogether.
Well, except in the EU, where charging mechanisms other than USB-C are illegal. Not just illegal to market: illegal to even sell in the first place.
It’s not that big a deal to throw a USB-C port on to a laptop, which has several ports already.
But a phone?
Even my older iPhone has reduced the number of ports down to one. (Separate headphone jacks disappeared years ago.)
Imagine if Apple, Samsung, and everyone else could sell smartphones with ZERO ports. Not only does this reduce cost, but it helps to preserve the integrity of the device.
And the phone manufacturers will take advantage of this in Asia, the Americas, and Africa.
Google Gemini.
While still maintaining the government-mandated (and more expensive) USB-C versions in Europe.
Because once a government mandates something, it’s nearly impossible to change.
