UK mobile usage stats show web boost

January 30, 2007
by Latitude

With all that is happening in the mobile search space - and with rife speculation that 2007 is the year mobile search will explode - the Mobile Data Association’s newly released stats on mobile usage in the UK are worth a look:

Mobile phone users in the UK accessed the internet via their handsets about 15.9 million times throughout December 2006, says the Mobile Data Association. The association’s report shows an increase of one million unique sessions over November 2006, the prior record…In the past three months, mobile users accessed the web 45.6 million times.

Holiday gift-giving could explain the rise, but a boom in mobile web usage is also predicted:

[A]n increase in data use should be expected over the next year due to a larger installed base of internet-capable mobile phones, better user experiences, user education, and new consumer-friendly price points…[B]y the end of 2007, 797.6 million mobile phone subscriptions worldwide, or roughly 25%, will include web browsing.