It won�t be long before your customers will be accessing your web site from their mobile phones. They�ll be searching for resources through mobile search engines and VSEs. You may want to get your dot-mobi demain and start building a mobile web site. Look for a quickie course in creating mobile web sites tomorrow.

How close are we to simple, robust web surfing from cell phones and PDAs? A new comScore report on wireless use in the U.S. provides insights on mobile phone trends. Did you know that 14 percent of mobile users have given up their land phones completely? In fact, 33 percent say they “feel lost” without their cell phones.

However, only 17 percent have the Internet on their mobile phones. There are a number of reasons for this. First, most mobile phone users don�t currently have smart phones so their cell phones are not Internet enabled. Up until now, we have lacked the sophisticated handsets required to make web surfing a good experience. We have also lacked the high-speed wireless networks that are fast enough to provide a good user experience on the web. And finally, mobile web sites have a long way to go toward providing a good user experience.

When you have a cell phone, services go beyond just voice. You can get data services such as text messaging, email, instant messaging and multimedia messaging. The carriers currently make more money from data services than voice services. Below are the most popular data services subscribers buy beyond basic voice (percentage of users):

* Text Messaging 50%
* Email 30%
* Instant Messaging 22%
* Multimedia Messaging 15%
There are many reasons for accessing the Internet by cell phone or PDA. Below are the top reasons for mobile Internet access (percentage of users)

Email 44%
Ring Tone Downloads 35%
Weather 34%
News 29%
Sports 25%
Local Search (YellowPages) 24%
Game Downloads 21%
Travel Information 19%
Wallpaper Downloads 16%
Directory Assistance 15%
Financial Information 10%
Bill Pay 10%
Shopping 6%

In the future, more people will be subscribing to Mobile content from their cell phones and PDAs, especially as network speed, smart phones and user-friendly mobile web sites increase. There is no doubt that mobile data adoption will eventually reach critical mass. All major search providers are developing better mobile consumer applications and testing mobile advertising.
Yahoo�s Go 2.0 is touting its much-improved user experience. Apple iPhone is promising users a better mobile Internet experience, albeit for a price.

Why do Consumers Switch Carriers?

The ComScore study shows most people switch to gain better network coverage (27%) while others switch for a better price (14%). Consumer loyalty is highly correlated to carrier satisfaction, with only 6 percent of respondents indicating they were likely to switch when they were highly satisfied with their cell phone carrier. On the other hand, 76 percent who were highly dissatisfied with their carrier indicated plans to switch.

You can read more about the comScore Networks� Wireless Industry Report here. (http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1175)