We recently noticed something astonishing. 817 different mobile devices accessed ZURB.com in the past 30 days. That's amazing! Having a flood of smartphones and tablets access our site proves that responsive design isn't a choice anymore.
The number has grown by leaps and bounds in the past couple of years. We recorded 142 mobile devices coming to our site when we release Foundation in 2011. Now it's 817 — a 475% increase in just two years.
These aren't users who casually check out the site and leave after a few seconds. The broad base of them are sticking around for a minute and 55 seconds. Sure, it's lower than the four-and-a-half minutes of the average desktop users, but mobile users are snackers.
It's only going to continue to grow. Consider this: 38% of mobile usage in the last six months came from 3,430 different devices and operating systems. Tablet use has shot up 10% in that time as well. Which goes to prove that responsive design is crucial to meeting the needs of customers across a variety of smartphones and tablets.
It's impossible to design for every specific device. Responsive design is the only way to ensure our products do reach as many people and as many different devices as we can. It's the only practical solution that allows companies to serve up content to a growing mobile audience.