MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING USERS WILL NUMBER MORE THAN 641.6 MILLION by 2013, according to the latest predictions from Informa. A new report from the company says that at the end of 2008, there were just 92.5 million users of mobile social networking services, but that will skyrocket to between 641.6 million and 873.1 million by the end of 2013. It adds that the most popular mobile social services

A NEW REPORT SUGGESTS MOBILE ADVERTISING WILL INCREASE BY 30+ PERCENT, despite the overall marketing slowdown, because of critical development anticipated by the end of the year. According to a report by Magna, the U.S. mobile advertising market will grow by 36%. That's a rise from $169 million in 2008 to $229 million during 2009. Although this doesn't reflect a significant growth on previous years, Magna explains that we will witness a resurgence in the industry in 2010 thanks to the proliferation of mobile-based subscriptions and ad-supported mobile applications. Source The bottom line: Another reason to be optimistic about the development of the mobile advertising market in the U.S. Forecasts that growth will be stunted in 2009 are now tempered by bullish predictions for 2010. Advances in handset penetration, the spread of ad-funded content/services schemes, and a wealth of app store offerings should result in an even greater take-up of mobile advertising. *** THE MOBILE INTERNET, MOBILE EMAIL AND MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING ARE USED BY MORE THAN HALF of mobile phone users. A mobile Internet poll carried out by user experience consultancy Webcredible showed that of the respondents who used the mobile Internet (52 percent), over half (55 percent) used it primarily for emailing and social networking. Source The bottom line: We know that the growth of the mobile Internet usage is linked to the youth demographic and their particular usage pattern (transferring their fixed-line Internet/PC behavior to mobile). This study provides us with some numbers to back this up. *** SMARTPHONES REPRESENT A MINORITY of U.S. mobile device purchases, accounting for 23 percent of handset sales volume in Q1, says recent data from market research firm NPD Group. Yet as a percentage of overall handset sales to consumers in the U.S. from January through July 2008, smartphones represented 19 percent of all handset purchases compared to just 9 percent for the same period last year. This rise was put down to declining prices, streamlined form factors, and Internet connectivity bringing devices into the mainstream. Source The bottom line: It's easy (particularly if you are focused on the mobile content industry) to lose sight of the fact that smartphones, despite the hype and their urban cool factor, remain a minority in the marketplace. The percentage is rising, but there is no doubt a large and untapped market opportunity in catering to plain-old, low-end devices. ***