There will be 5 billion mobile cellular subscriptions around the world in 2010, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
At the end of 2009, there were 4.6 billion subscriptions, according to ITU. In 2010, the organization is expecting 8.7 percent growth, “driven by advanced services and handsets in developed countries and increased take-up of mobile health services and mobile banking in the developing world,” according to a press release.
Will the economic weakness in much of the world drag demand down? No, according to ITU Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun Toure. “Even during an economic crisis, we have seen no drop in the demand for communications services, and I am confident that we will continue to see a rapid uptake in mobile cellular services in particular in 2010, with many more people using their phones to access the internet.”
ITU also expects the number of mobile broadband subscriptions to top 1 billion globally in 2010. There were more than 600 million subscriptions at the end of 2009.
“With current growth rates, web access by people on the move — via laptops and smart mobile devices – is likely to exceed web access from desktop computers within the next five years,” the press release notes.
Dr. Toure highlights the healthcare benefits of low-end mobile phones can have in the developing world. “Good examples include sending reminder messages to patient’s phones when they have a medical appointment, or need a pre-natal check-up. Or using SMS messages to deliver instructions on when and how to take complex medication such as anti-retrovirals or vaccines.”
Ruder Finn, a public relations firm, recently found that Americans spend 2.7 hours on the mobile Web each day. Mobile phone users are 1.6 times more likely to manage their finances compared to their traditional desktop-using counterparts.
The study also found that men use the mobile Web to escape, while women use it to make others laugh.
Three in five respondents said they download applications at least once a month, while 36 percent said they download applications from social networking sites at least once a month.
Men are more likely to compare prices via the mobile Web, while women are more likely to make purchases.
Ninety-one percent of respondents said they use the mobile Web to socialize, which is a bigger share of the response than the 79 percent of traditional Web users who said the same.
Forwarding content (e-mail, photos, etc.) was also a popular mobile Web activity, according to respondents of the survey.
mTLD, the company behind the .mobi domain name, was recently sold to the company behind the .info TLD.
Sources:
http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2010/06.html
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=122460
http://techdirt.com/articles/20100212/0214238138.shtml
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