TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Consumers in Asia eager to adopt location-based services: TNS mobile-marketing study

GLOBAL – For marketers looking to leverage mobile’s popularity, location-based services (LBS) are their best bet, according to TNS. The insights firm’s ‘Mobile Life Study’ found that more than 60 per cent of mobile-phone users worldwide who don’t yet use LBS said they want to. TNS’ annual Mobile Life study explored mobile use among 48,000 people in 58 countries. The study showed that the majority of people around the world recognize the value of sharing their location to benefit from a range of services. Globally, almost 30 per cent of the world’s 6 billion people are using smartphones, and in developed Asia-Pacific countries (which includes Japan, Korea, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and New Zealand), this figure climbs to over 42 per cent.

MMAF Calls On Marketers To Be More Creative Amid Mobile Media Era

The Mobile Marketing Association Forum Singapore (MMAF) has called on marketers to be more creative as the mobile media takes on a new role in the larger media landscape. Mindshare Asia reminded the audience to look at the mobile media as a central touch point, not as a separate platform.

Are publishers toast on mobile?

Mobile has undoubtedly shifted the way that publishers view their revenue models, but with drops in advertising revenue and media companies not taking advantage of the channel, can publishers survive in the post-PC world?  Print publishers have grappled with how to approach mobile, whether it is with subscription models or advertising, for years. But when it comes down to it, do publishers have a chance in the mobile space or should they just cut their losses?

Marriott exec: 50pc of smartphone bookings happen within 24 hours of check-in

SAN DIEGO – A Marriott International executive at the Mobile Shopping Spring Summit said that the company is seeing a high number of smartphone bookings being made for same-day reservations. During the “So Many Options, So Little Budget — What’s The Best Way To Allocate Your Mobile Marketing Spend?” session, executives spoke about how companies can best incorporate mobile into an overall marketing budget. The session was moderated by Marci Troutman, CEO of SiteMinis, Atlanta.

Asia’s e-shopping boom

New data on Asian online shopper behaviour shows the gap is fast closing between emerging and mature markets.  But the biggest shock in the comprehensive survey of 7373 respondents from 14 Asian markets is in the online shopping intentions of people in Thailand and Vietnam.

Mobile adspend to rise

NEW YORK: Mobile advertising expenditure is set to almost double globally this year to reach more than $11bn, a forecast has predicted. Strategy Analytics, the research firm, stated that total media revenues for this medium would hit $149.8bn in 2011, a 17% expansion measured against the previous 12 months. Adspend levels are pegged to rise from $6.3bn to $11.6bn year on year, as brand owners increasingly turn their attention to this channel.

Digitally savvy mobile consumer is the king

At the end of the first day of the Mobile Marketing Association Forum Singapore 2012, the key message to take back is that to make mobile the most popular platform for brand building, the marketers need to understand the important role the tech savvy and always mobile consumer plays today. Interestingly the speakers, while emphasising the importance of mobile also spoke about how the best way to leverage the mobile platform is to look at a converged scenario of mediums and channels rather than as a technology silo.

Black Consumers Active, Engaged on Mobile

Penetration rates now comparable to other groups, but mobile activity remains higher than most. Black consumers became smartphone users early and in large numbers. But they no longer constitute an oversized portion of the smartphone population, as the penetration rate among white consumers has accelerated. Black consumers’ smartphone penetration rate this year will be slightly lower than that of whites and the US population in general, eMarketer estimates, and the gap is expected to widen in the next several years.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

AdBoard refreshed and renewed in 2012, new board tests new bylaws

A FEW years shy of 40, the Advertising Board of the Philippines (AdBoard), one of the country’s biggest trade organizations, starts 2012 with a timely reinvention. The advertising landscape is changing fast. Marketing, media, communications and other similar professions are now inextricably in the business model. Staring AdBoard in the face was a decades-old, yawning gap between itself and the industry it was tasked to represent and whose rights it had sworn to uphold.

Consumers Increasingly Marry Mobile Devices With TV

Smartphones, tablets, and TV make good companions, according to various reports released in April 2012. Data from a GfK Knowledge Networks survey indicates that 52% of minutes spent with tablets, and the same percentage with smartphones, are shared with TV viewing. Per aForrester Research report, 85% of tablet owners use their tablets while watching TV. And survey findings from QuickPlay [download page] indicate that 91% of tablet owners have watched a TV program or full-length motive on their tablet, while 57% of mobile subscribers overall are interested in a multiscreen video service.

2012 March Madness Was Very Mobile: Study

To marketers, mobile is a channel for their promotions and branding messages. But no consumers ever pick up their smartphones and go looking for ads; they’re hunting for content, and the marketing trick is to wrap the message around that content. So it’s interesting that the latest report from Millennial Media focuses on how mobile fans used their devices to view the big event of last month, the NCAA basketball championships.

Mobile marketing in growth path

With digital becoming the ‘fashionable’ medium over the past couple of years, marketers are now looking at exploring the various avenues it presents. With the growing acceptance of new technologies, many new possibilites for marketing and ways to reach the TG have emerged. The mobile has gone from being the traditional third screen to the first screen for many, especially the youngsters.

Video, Social Boost US Mobile Content Consumption

One-third of US population will use social networking and video on mobile devices by 2016. With smartphone users expected to make up over half of US mobile users by next year, content consumption on mobile devices is also on the rise, including video viewing and social networking.

iPad Found Accounting for 89% of Mobile Shopping Revenue

The iPad accounts for nearly two-thirds of all mobile shopping sessions, and an impressive 89% of all mobile shopping revenue, says RichRelevance in April 2012 study results. With mobile’s share of total retail climbing to 4.6% in March 2012 (from 1.9% in April 2011), this means that the iPad now accounts for more than 4% of total retail revenue. Meanwhile, other iOS devices make up 4% of the mobile revenue share, with other mobiles holding the remaining 7%. The study found that all mobiles combined now account for 9% of total online shopping sessions.

Luxury retailers adapt to mobile age

A study conducted earlier this year by The Luxury Institute showed that 60% of high net worth individuals own smartphones, and of those, 67% used them to shop. 80% had downloaded an app.

Study: TV + Mobile = Results

Brands, if you’re looking for more bang from your video buck, look to mobile. That is the key takeaway from a new report out from Nielsen and AdColony. Through the study research found that combining television advertising with mobile helped to improve brand favorability and recall as well as purchase intent metrics.

Gartner: Worldwide PC Shipments Grow 1.9 Percent in Q1 2012

According to preliminary results by Gartner Inc., worldwide PC shipments totaled 89 million units in the first quarter of 2012, a 1.9% increase from the first quarter of 2011, when shipments reached 87.3 million units. These results exceed Gartner’s earlier projections of a 1.2% decline for the quarter. ”The results were mixed depending on the region, as we saw the EMEA region perform better than expected, while Asia/Pacific performed below expectations, in part because of slow growth in India and China,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “While the PC industry has high expectations for strong growth in the emerging markets,…

Global mobile health market worth $8B by 2018

A recent report from Global Data pegged the global mHealth market as having a $500 million value in 2010 that will top $8 billion by 2018. The research firm argues that the rise of mobile health has been partially encouraged by the global financial crisis, which led to a focus on finding cost efficiencies in the system in addition to improved outcomes and quality of care.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Why mobile ads in emerging markets are the future

There are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers around the world, meaning 77% of the world’s population uses a phone. The majority of those users — 3.8 billion or 73% of the group — live in emerging economies. Yet mobile advertising dollars spent around the world do not begin to compete with traditional platforms or Internet ads. As the Internet spreads throughout the developing world, it’s arriving on phones before traditional computers. Some 70% of Internet users in Egypt, 59% in India, 57% in South Africa, 50% in Ghana and 44% in Indonesia get online via mobile phones alone. This Jana infographic poses a question for advertisers — how will relevant content be delivered via mobile device?

“Asia will be a US$7 billion mobile ad market”

There’s no denying the fact that mobile advertising will flourish in 2012 and the coming years, particularly in the APAC region. Asia is already the largest mobile ad region in terms of mobile advertising spend. In fact, industry analysts predict that Asia will be a US$7 billion mobile advertising market by 2015. Smartphone penetration in Asia is expected to surpass feature phones in 2012. With this trend, there will be more emphasis on efficient buying methods to fill available mobile advertising inventory. More and more people are using their mobile devices to access the web as smartphone proliferation reaches every corner of the world. Not only are people connected, but their attention is increasingly tied to their mobile screen.

Local To Account for Two-Thirds of Mobile Ad Spend in 2016

Locally targeted ads are forecast to account for 65% share of total US mobile ad revenues in 2016,according to details from an April 2012 BIA/Kelsey Group blog post. Specifically, local will account for $5 billion of the projected $7.7 billion in mobile ad revenues. This represents a dramatic increase from the estimated $0.8 billion in locally-targeted mobile ad revenues in 2011, which equaled 45% share of the $1.7 billion total. This year, mobile ad revenues are predicted to be $2.7 billion, about evenly split

ABI Research… ‘Mazing Mobile Revenues Predicted For Asia (Analysis | Reports)

That’s up from less than 23 percent in 2011. In India, mobile Internet will represent 19 percent of this year’s service revenue. While the figures demonstrate the robust demand for mobile data across the Asia-Pacific, they still pale in comparison to the region’s more advanced markets like Japan (40 percent) and Hong Kong (44 percent). ABI Research Senior analyst Aapo Markkanen explains, “It’s in carriers’ interests to become part of the Internet value chain from early on. Strategic choices, such as those seen in Indonesia, can give operators a more integral role in defining the customer experience in a time when the local digital landscape is still being shaped up.

Smartphones Continue to Gain Share as US Mobile Usage Plateaus

The number of US mobile phone users will increase at a compound annual rate of just 1.8% between 2010 and 2016, eMarketer estimates, moving from nearly 75% penetration to 79% by the end of the forecast period. The number of total mobile connections in the US, including subscriptions to mobile phones as well as nonvoice devices such as wireless modem cards, netbooks, mobile Wi-Fi hotspots, ereaders, tablets and telematics systems, jumped in 2011 by 11.6%.

Mobile Internet Will Account for 25% of Service Revenues in China and 19% in India, Says ABI Research

Mobile Internet will account for 25% of China’s mobile revenues in 2012, up from less than 23% in 2011. In India, mobile Internet will represent 19% of this year’s service revenue. While the figures demonstrate the robust demand for mobile data across the Asia-Pacific, they still pale in comparison to the region’s more advanced markets like Japan (40%) and Hong Kong (44%). Senior analyst Aapo Markkanen explains, “It’s in carriers’ interests to become part of the Internet value chain from early on. Strategic choices, such as those seen in Indonesia, can give operators a more integral role in defining the customer experience in a time when the local digital landscape is still being shaped up. Moreover, such moves also allow them to gain valuable mindshare among local content providers and app developers.”

Nielsen: Global Consumers’ Trust in “Earned” Advertising Grows in Importance

Ninety-two percent of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth and recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising–an increase of 18 percent since 2007, according to a new study from Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy. Online consumer reviews are the second most trusted form of advertising with 70 percent of global consumers surveyed online indicating they trust this platform, an increase of 15 percent in four years.

Agencies Should Reap Big Profits From Move Into Mobile Ads

Why do agencies hesitate to go after this low hanging fruit? Like aspiring swimmers and bicyclists, the simple answer is fear. Not of drowning or falling, but rather of being stymied by technology and saddled with additional expenses. Such fears are unfounded. Mobile technology, while advancing, is actually becoming simpler not only for Smartphone users, but also for agencies that see the value in crafting ad strategies and campaigns geared specifically for this burgeoning market.

Why it is time to mobilize your webcasts

As the smartphone and tablet marketplace continues to grow, so does the need to connect with people on their mobile device. Soon enough, mobile access will be the primary form of using the Web. Remember when landlines were the most prevalent form of communication? Now, most households forgo landlines for mobile phones as their main contact point. Mobile Web access is heading in a similar direction.

Global mobile entertainment revenues to climb up to $53.9 billion in 2016

A significant growth is expected to hit by storm in the global mobile entertainment market over the next 4 years, according to a market intelligence report headed by IEMR. Report revealed that the mobile entertainment revenue will accelerate in terms of revenue from $53.9 billion, quite higher than last year’s $39.6 billion. The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) from 2012 to 2016 is projected at 6.3%.

Amidst the different categories playing in the mobile entertainment industry, the Mobile Music is predicted to see the biggest growth in revenue with $18 billion by 2016, compared to $9 billion of last year.

Meanwhile, India is taking a lead as the fastest-growing market due to mobile entertainment’s teeming with publishers, distributors, operator competition and relatively less stringent broadcasting regulations. The country’s mobile entertainment market is expected to rise at $1.79 billion in 2016, an impressive climb from $670 million in 2011 (CAGR of 18.2% from 2012 – 2016 period).

Operators and service providers are getting excited to provide value added services across the mobile multimedia value chain in India.

Marketing consultant believes 2012 an exploding year for mobile marketing

Mobile marketing gets a nod in connecting with the consumer mass market, with marketing consulting firm saying this year will experience a significant growth in terms of “mobile marketing and mobile-related ad spending”.

Noting an average of 30% that US adults spent over mobile interaction last year, Winterberry Group, a marketing consulting company, said that mobile will increase by a whopping 50.2% to $1.8 billion in 2012. During a presentation to Direct Marketing Club of New York, the firm’s managing director explained that mobile marketing has grown in value with the prevalence of Smartphones, geolocation and increasingly tech-savvy consumers. With such a notable change in terms of consumer market’s behavior, advertisers are advised to adopt quickly into it.

Direct and digital ad spending in the US reached a total of $215.9 billion in 2011, according to Winterberry report – 41.2% ($1.2 billion) of which came from mobile advertising. The insert media spending increased 12.5% to $0.9 billion in 2011, compared with 2010. Direct-response broadcast spending increased 7.6% to $25.4 billion year-over-year, while direct-response print increased 2% to $15.3 billion and teleservices spending increased 1.5% to $40.1 billion.

With this evolution seen to be exploding, strong data management platforms are vital to support vast new streams of information from mobile and digital channels; to include consumer behavior data, opt-in information, web analytics, contact and demographics information, transactional and loyalty records and public records.

Mobile marketing and advertising budgets to increase in 2012

This year 2012, mobile advertising/marketing spend is largely seen to increase in the US market, according to Digital Marketer managing editor. One big factor that leads to said prediction is the rising sales of Smartphones in the region, giving a perfect indicator for advertisers to double up their efforts in reaching to the public consumers. In fact, according to recent Nielsen’s report, there are about 43% of Americans having Smartphones with them.

Last year’s overall sales volume on Smartphone reached up to $5 billion; and while it sounds a huge number, Digital Marketer said it represents only to an equivalent of 2% of the total online ecommerce market. Had it been lesser than that of 2% being on Smartphone, it could never have been an attractive market for advertisers.

According to Digital Marketer, a pragmatic approach to mobile marketing has been wise up until now, and that all signs are pointing directly to increases in mobile marketing and advertising budgets. Last year’s 0.9% of advertising dollars went to mobile marketing spent will be expected to improve at a bigger percentage for this year.

Mobile Market Report: Ericsson to triple its mobile traffic

The changing mobile industry is driven by an increasing number of users, one being felt by Sony Ericsson with strong mobile subscriptions now reaching at 5.8 billion.

In its latest report “Traffic and Market Data”, Ericsson gave a picture analysis of the fast-moving mobile industry where mobile penetration rate reaches at 82%, equivalent to the number of mobile subscribers at almost 5.8 billion. This impressive record, according to the report, is driven swiftly by countries – China and India – where 50 million new users were added during the quarter.

In year 2016, the total mobile traffic is expected to triple with city dwellers’ mobile traffic contributions figured at 60%. Similarly, the behaviors of mobile subscribers are also anticipated to change as time goes by. Some of these behavioral findings in terms of mobile usage, according to report’s authors, disclosed a nearly 40% of Smartphone users who will check the internet before going to bed; driven mostly by demand for mobile video, mobile data traffic is expected to grow by 60% by 2016; mobile broadband subscriptions are expected to rise from 2011′s 900 million to 5 billion. The number of high-traffic Smartphones will grow more than 5 times, generating 12 times the traffic. Tablet subscriptions will also grow 10 times, generating 40 times the traffic.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

How to choose a winning mobile strategy

The executives who make the decision on strategy already have first-hand experience and an existing relationship with their phone. They understand the importance of mobile and are constantly reminded by friends and family that its influence is becoming increasingly broad on all levels. Secondly, the numbers are simply impossible to ignore. Businesses are moving their strategies in line with the evolving user behavior and companies of all sizes and sectors are putting mobile at the center of their business strategy.

comScore Reports June 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.3 percent market share. Google Android continued to gain ground in the smartphone market reaching 40.1 percent market share in June.

Nokia still top mobile maker in Q2, but Apple grows 142 percent y-o-y

According to the IDC’s worldwide mobile phone tracker, vendors shipped 365.4 million units in 2Q11 compared to 328.4 million units in the second quarter of 2010. The 11.3-percent growth was lower than IDC’s forecast of 13.3 percent for the quarter and was also below the 16.8 percent growth in 1Q11. The feature phone market shrank 4 percent in 2Q11 when compared to 2Q10.

Nielsen Data Points to Continued Android Dominance in the US Smartphone Market

Google’s Android operating system isn’t backing down amid growing competition within the US smartphone market. Android now represents 39 percent of the US smartphone ownership market as of June 2011. That information comes from the latest Nielsen data. The data largely backs up the claims made three weeks ago by Google CEO Larry Page, who says Android-powered devices are being activated to the tune of 550,000 units a day.

8 in 10 Mobile Users Browse Products/Services

About eight in 10 (81%) US smartphone/tablet users browse or look for products and/or services with their mobile devices, according to the July 2011 Prosper Mobile Insights mobile survey. This was slightly more than the 80% who use their mobile devices to locate a store or store hours (more than one answer permitted). The top two choices among the eight offered respondents were about twice as popular as any other response. The next-most-popular mobile activity, researching specific products (56%), was performed by 43% fewer smartphone/tablet users. The only other activity performed by more than half of respondents was receiving text messages with special offers (53%).

Mobile Users Expand Their Search Habits

More than 91 million US consumers will use the internet through a mobile device at least monthly by the end of this year, eMarketer estimates, and research shows that the increase in on-the-go web usage goes hand in hand with more search activity for local content. According to research from comScore and the Local Search Association, 22% of all US mobile owners used search on their phone in January 2011, up from 16% a year earlier.

Apple Tops Nokia, Samsung to Become World’s Top Smartphone Maker

As evidenced by the fact that Apple now has more cash on hand than the US Treasury, Apple’s unprecedented growth continues and it doesn’t appear that even Nokia and Samsung can slow the momentum. According to a new report published Friday by Strategy Analytics, Apple is the new king of the global smartphone world.

Marketing is ‘moving to mobile devices’

Businesses aiming to achieve a complete customer view for marketing have been advised that more advertising spending is moving to mobile devices. Windsor Holden, the principal analyst at Juniper Research, said that while mobile advertising, which covers tablets, smartphones and cells, really took off in 2010, its potential has still yet to be realized.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

Creative and mobile marketing ‘to be key for travel brands’

Travel brands will be embracing mobile marketing next year, the latest study shows. Travel brands expect to increase the emphasis they place on using creative channels like social media and web content, as well as mobile marketing, new research suggests. According to a survey of 325 travel brands, including airlines, agents, tourist boards and tour operators, from Frommers, 70 per cent of respondents are planning to raise their digital marketing spend next year.

The mobile Internet does not need apps

THE CO-CEO of Canadian Blackberry smartphone maker Research in Motion (RIM), Jim Balsillie has said that Apple’s idea that smartphones need apps is just plain silly and will die out quickly. Speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Balsillie said that you can bring the mobile to the web, but you don’t need to go through some kind of control point. Apple’s system for apps involves everything going through a central control point where they can be purged of anything that Steve Jobs does not like, he said.

Mobile banking revolution gathers pace, opens new frontier for profits

Kenya has been the birthplace of a banking revolution: with 65 per cent of mobile phone users now interested in adopting mobile banking services over traditional banking, according to a global survey last month by Netherlands technology firm Fundtech and research firm Aite Group.

Local Retailers Play Black Friday Catch Up with Mobile Marketing

Chicago, IL USA – Black Friday is just around the corner and mobile marketing and advertising is predicted to play a bigger role in driving in-store sales than ever before. “The 2010 holiday shopping season will demonstrate the strength of mobile marketing and advertising to drive in-store sales to the masses and introduce 2011 as what we and many other mobile experts believe will be the “stepping out” year for mobile.” says Scott Metcalfe, Chief Strategist at FetchLocalCustomers.com a Chicago based leader in local online marketing and local mobile marketing.

The Mobile Web: 3 Key Improvements

While mobile marketing has obviously seen explosive growth in recent years, 2011 brings the most significant mobile Web evolution as part of the overall mobile experience. With nearly 60 million Americans currently owning smartphones, the rapid growth and success of tablets, and improved user experience across devices, the mobile Web will become a much greater component to the multifaceted world of mobile marketing.

UK Consumers Are Doing More Online, More Often, With More Devices

Broadband access high, mobile web usage rising. UK internet users have embraced the web and its possibilities like never before, although some demographic groups remain offline. eMarketer estimates more than 44 million people are online in the UK in 2010 and nearly 70% of all households have broadband access.

Mobile Internet users in China to hit 800 mln in 2015

The number of mobile Internet users in China is on the path to reaching 800 million by 2015, and the total assets of the industry is to run over 100 billion yuan ($15.05 million), the Communication Information News reported Wednesday, citing a research report from the China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC).

Asia: Fostering mobile innovation

The Asia-Pacific region is home to almost half the world’s mobile subscribers and includes some of its fastest-growing and highly-penetrated markets. As Total Telecom prepares to head to Hong Kong for Mobile Asia Congress 2010, we take a look at some of the key markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

Research and Markets: Cambodia – Telecoms, Mobile, Internet and Forecasts

Cambodia has managed a remarkable transition in building a vibrant telecom market. Despite the country’s status as one of the least developed nations in the world and whilst it remains one of the poorer countries in Southeast Asia, Cambodia’s efforts to expand and upgrade its telecom infrastructure have certainly been bearing fruit. There was very little infrastructure remaining from before the tumultuous Khmer Rouge days. As a result, Cambodia bypassed rebuilding the fixed-line market and quickly launched into alternative technologies, jump-starting its telecommunications infrastructure with digital technology.

Print Publishers Say Mobile is in Their Future

Eighty-five percent of print publishers surveyed by the Audit Bureau of Circulations believe that more people will rely on mobile devices as a primary information source in the next three years. That probably does not surprise you.

Mobile market continues to grow

According to recent research, global sales of both smartphones and traditional mobile phones continued to grow rapidly in the third quarter of 2010. The report, released by Gartner, examines the sales of mobile devices worldwide. Overall, 417 million mobile phone units were sold in the quarter, a 35 percent increase from the same quarter in 2009. Smartphone growth was even more rapid, with a 96 percent increase compared to the third quarter of 2009. Eighty-one million smartphones were sold worldwide during the quarter.

Africa Hits 500 Million Mobile Subscriptions Mark

The number of active mobile subscriptions in Africa crossed the half-a-billion mark in the third quarter of this year, to reach 506 million at end-September, according to research by UK-based Informa Telecoms & Media. The report, published on the researcher’s website said at the end of the third quarter of this year, Africa accounted for 10% of the world’s mobile subscriptions and was one of the world’s fastest-growing regions – with the subscription numbers increasing 18% over the year to September.

An apparel retailer launches mobile fashion alerts

Fashion emergency? Never fear, mobile fashion alerts are here. Women’s apparel retailer White House Black Market has launched FashionAlerts, location-based text messages that alert shoppers close to participating stores about upcoming in-store sales, online promotions, new product releases, sweepstakes and style tips.

Asia’s Mobile Innovation: Total Telecom looks at mega-key markets across ASPAC region

The Asia-Pacific region is seen as home to almost half of the world’s mobile subscribers including some of its fastest-growing and highly-penetrated markets. In fact, according to recent report of Total Telecom, 48% of the world’s over 5 billion mobile subscribers were from Asia-Pacific region as of mid-2010. Report said a large proportion of those mobile subscribers came from the mega-markets of China and India, with claimed 813.38 million and 692.83 million respectively.

While India tops the research firm’s year-on-year growth rate table at a sizeable 47%, China’s 17% growth rate (which remains high in comparison to other markets; highly developed Japan recorded 5% growth over the same period, for example) leaves it languishing at number 10. Cambodia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka all saw growth of 30% or more.

At the other end of the scale – and Asia-Pac covers the whole gamut – sit the advanced markets in which penetration is creeping up towards 100%. Singapore tops the chart with 192% penetration, closely followed by Macau at 190%. And next on the list, with penetration of 143% and a well-advanced mobile market, comes Hong Kong, where the global mobile communications industry is set to convene on Wednesday at Mobile Asia Congress 2010.

More of Total Telecom findings as it looked into an in-depth analysis of the mobile potential across the Asia-Pacific region.