We've been meeting with Auckland's Business Improvement Districts to discuss the ways that people are accessing the internet in 2013 and what this means to them as town centre managers.

Google claims every second New Zealander now owns a smartphone as Kiwis become more mobile than ever before, but warns smart advertisers need to follow their lead.

According to one study into smartphone adoption, figures put Kiwis almost on par with the US (56%) And while Australians are still ahead at 65%, Kiwis are catching up quickly with an increase of ten percent over the previous year.

The number of mobile broadband subscribers has risen 34 percent to 2.5 million people in the 12 months ended June 30 compared to a year earlier. New Zealand's population is 4.41 million.

Kiwis are also engaging online more with mobile than their American counterparts, with 42% spending more time online with their smartphone over the past six months than before, compared with just 34% in the US. Consider the following….

Almost three in every four Kiwis (74%) loathe to leave home without their phone but despite these results, Google’s data shows that the majority of advertisers do not yet have a mobile optimised website, meaning they’re missing out on customers trying to visit them from smartphones.

The report says 74% of smartphone owners have researched a product or service from their device; of them, one third have made a purchase from their mobile. While others who start research on smartphones go on to complete purchases on a desktop (38%) and in-person (35%).