New data released from Nielsen Mobile, in the "The Worldwide State of the Mobile Web" report, indicates that adoption of the mobile web has reached a critical mass and can now support "large-scale mobile marketing efforts."  

According to Nielsen, as of May 2008, 15.6 percent of US mobile subscribers regularly use the internet on their mobile device - reaching a total of 40 million users. (In all, some 95 million US subscribers pay for access to the mobile internet, but the 40 million are regular users.)

The UK and Italy followed the US, with 12.9 percent and 11.9 percent respectively, of subscribers going online from a mobile device.

It's interesting that while the US leads in overall mobile internet usage (of total users), other nations are now using mobile devices as the primary mechanism for getting online. According to Ars Technica, "In Russia, Brazil, and India, mobile lines far outnumber landlines, and as those countries continue to flourish, they will become a greater driving force in mobile Internet use."

According to the Nielsen report, the most popular things to do online were to go through web portals for mobile sites, followed by e-mail, then weather, news/politics, search, city maps, and sports.

"All of this ads up to a significant marketing opportunity, if companies can learn how to do it right," reported Ars Technica. "Mobile users appear to be lukewarm towards advertising (although Nielsen says that self-reported advertising receptivity tends to be low across all mediums), and due to its more personal nature, could be even more difficult to sell. Still, it could be successful as long as mobile marketing can respect consumer privacy and actually engage users"

For more on mobile internet usage, read our sister SFN blog's post yesterday on reaching teen audiences.

Source: Ars Technica through European Journalism Centre