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Mobile Application Usage

Text messaging is still king among mobile data applications, with
35% of wireless subscribers using the service compared to just
20% a year ago.

Games and ringtones are also strong categories, though the
majority of gamers are still freeloading: the purchase gap with
ringtones is far narrower.

Across the board, teens are far more likely then adults to use
wireless data and multimedia services.

M:Metrics: WAP Statistics
Early implementations of WAP, the Wireless Application Protocol, were rightly panned as delivering a low-grade experience for perusing content on mobile handsets. The proliferation of handsets with color displays that support WAP 2, a variant of xHTML, offers a platform that can compete as a wireless Web. M:Metrics data shows that owners of devices that support WAP 2 are more than 63% more likely to use the browser feature on their handset than subscribers with handsets that support earlier versions of the protocol. In 2005 the installed base of WAP 2 phones has expanded significantly from about 33% of all WAP phones in January to about 48% in August. Over the same period the installed base of devices that support WAP has expanded to about 124 million devices in August from 118 million in January.

                                                               WAP 1.x Growth Rates                                                        

                                                                   WAP 2.x Growth Rates

About M:Metrics
M:Metrics is the mobile industry authority on the measurement of the consumption, availability and feasibility of mobile content and applications.  M:Metrics’ monthly syndicated data services benchmark the performance of carriers, handset OEMs, platform vendors and content providers, empowering decision makers with highly granular, verifiable measures of subscriber consumption, content availability and pricing and handset capabilities.  M:Metrics, Inc. is a private, venture-funded corporation headquartered in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Seattle, Washington with offices in San Francisco, California.

M:Metrics: Back-to-School with Reading, 'Riting, Ringtones
Measurement firm finds that students are the top consumers of mobile content
Seattle-August 29, 2005-Pop quiz: Who's more likely to access mobile e-mail: a 40-year-old male executive or an 18-year-old college student with a part-time job? M:Metrics, the authority on the measurement of mobile content and applications, has found that students, particularly those who are also employed, consume more mobile content than any other group. In addition, the firm's latest monthly measures show that students are getting a jump on the back-to-school mobile buying season, as they make use of their new phones by using mobile content. Mobile browser use among students grew by 8.7 percent in July,a rate that is two-thirds higher compared with growth in consumption by non-students.