It’s Official! “2010 Was a Game Changing Year for Mobile

Thank you for that Comscore.  These and other tidy sound bites now available in the 2010 Mobile Year in Review released this week.  Unfortunately, the data compiled in this report does not include statistics on Canadian mobile trends in 2010 (we heard in September that was coming!?) but there are some very useful and compelling stats on just how rapidly mobile adoption and consumption is changing peoples lives all over the world.

Comscore says,“Smartphone adoption, 3G penetration and unlimited data plans drove a surge of mobile media consumption across geographies and deepened the integration of mobile devices into everyday life. And, the coming year has the potential to be even more exciting. As the mobile ecosystem continues to develop, including progress in mobile advertising and commerce, it’s clear that mobile is destined to become an increasingly important platform for digital marketers across all industries.”

Here are a few other juicy tidbits for you, or you can download the full report.

• Smartphone adoption accelerated in both the U.S. and Europe. U.S. smartphone adoption reached 27 percent of mobile subscribers in December 2010, an increase of 10 percentage points from the previous year, while European adoption reached 31 percent, also up nearly 10 points versus year ago.
• Network quality and cost of monthly plan were the top 2 purchase consideration factors for mobile subscribers in the U.S. and UK.
• Nokia was the top OEM in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain. Samsung took the top spot in the U.S. and France, and also ranked in the top three in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain.
• 36 percent of mobile Americans and 29 percent of Europeans browsed the mobile web in December 2010, with access through an application reaching 34 percent of Americans and 28 percent of Europeans. Across regions, mobile browsing and application usage is growing in the range of 7-9 percentage points per year.
• More than 75 percent of mobile subscribers in Japan are connected media users (used their browser, accessed applications or downloaded content) far surpassing the U.S. and European countries in this regard. Japan also saw nearly 10 percent of its mobile audience make a purchase with their mobile wallet in December 2010.
• Over the past year the number of mobile users that accessed a social networking site at least once a month via their mobile device increased by 56 percent to nearly 58 million users in the U.S. Even stronger growth occurred in Europe, with a 75-percent increase in the number of users over the last year to 42 million in December 2010.