AT Kearney has just released a report on mobile communication trends amongst consumers across the countries ( India, for some reason has not been included in spite of being one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world!)
The findings, based on interviews with mobile users in 21 countries, reveal increased awareness of and experimentation with mobile data services, with some very strong usage patterns. For example, more consumers across all age groups are adopting mobile data services. This confirms a trend first reported by mobile operators that were experiencing incremental revenue growth from mobile data over and above the long-established text messaging (SMS).
Similarly, penetration of data-enabled, multimedia phones has increased to 53 percent, with 56 percent of multimedia phone owners actually using it to browse their operator's portal, the internet or to access mobile email, and doing so at least once a month. This number stands in stark contrast to the 36 percent of users who used these services in 2004. And although music downloads and email are beginning to make a noticeable contribution, more recent services, such as streaming video, have still not generated meaningful revenues.
Entertainment services lag behind communication in terms of overall adoption, but younger customers are eager for both music and gaming services. In particular, 33 percent of consumers with multimedia devices download music, up from 21 percent last year.