14 DAY TRIAL // The Kelsey Group has conducted a study that showed mobile Internet to be a greatly important feature in what they look to receive from their handsets. Almost half of the phone users surveyed said that this will be an important aspect in choosing one device over another when they make their next cellular purchase.
Although mobile Internet is not nearly as engaging and easy to use as the PC version, it proves to be a great solution for getting the needed information at the right time. Because of this, companies that will stress on developing solutions for cutting down the drawbacks of current browsers will most probably reach great profits.
Only a quarter of mobile phone service subscribers currently opt for an Internet access plan. Still, expectations are high, especially as the most recently released handsets bring a great deal of features and possibilities for improved handling.
"The combination of unlimited data plans and next-generation Internet-enabled mobile devices, like Apple's iPhone, suggests mobile Web access will grow to become ubiquitous", said Matt Booth, senior vice president and program director, Interactive Local Media, The Kelsey Group. Moreover, "Growing mobile Internet usage and increased satisfaction with mobile Internet applications are among the converging factors that we believe point to a breakthrough year ahead for mobile ad adoption", he further added.
The Kelsey Group expects U.S. mobile search advertising revenues to grow from more than USD 30 million in 2007, to USD 1.4 billion in 2012. This means a huge annual growth. Moreover, their study also revealed that maps and local commercial search are the favorite Internet applications for most users. More than 10 percent of users admitted to have used this type of services in the past six months, while half of them said that it should be of interest to them in the future. The research has been conducted on 500 mobile phone users in the US.