I’ve always believed that while things such as the mobile Web and new-age mobile technology in general are always “hitting the masses” so to speak, there’s still a large majority of normal every-day users who aren’t even aware they exist.

These statistics are simply phenominal.. and something that I find hard to believe given the proliferation of web-ready phones, and especially phones that are designed solely around the use of the mobile web.

It seems unlikely that big players like Apple, Nokia, Motorola, and Palm would all be jumping into the web-ready market if there wasn’t a significant demand for use.

It certainly wasn’t our intention to paint a bleak picture! On the one hand, we did want to give a slight “reality check” as many (ourselves included) can often get carried away in assuming that whatever behaviour is true for us is true of the general public.

We’re confident in the accuracy of our reporting, but we should point out that this is claimed behaviour. Comparing whether people claim to have an internet enabled phone to the handset they say they own shows some disparities. What this indicates is that just because someone has the capability to go online via their mobile doesn’t mean that they do so, or that they are even aware of it.

What we feel the industry needs to do is concentrate on the comparative advantage of the mobile phone. Current communications emphasise services such as social networks and email – great for the early adopting heavy internet user but not so relevant for someone who may check their personal email once in the morning at work and once in the evening at home. To make the mobile internet interesting and relevant to these people, unique benefits relating to mobility and proximity should be promoted. In our research, we identified services such as real-time travel updates and keeping track of vouchers/special offers as being particularly popular.

Best wishes
Simon Kendrick,Essential Research