In a report published today by comScore, the top five mobile OEMs for mobile subscribers age 13+ were unveiled, with Apple and HTC nowhere in sight.  Interestingly, feature phones still dominate the landscape.

In the 3 month average ending in March, 234 million Americans age 13 and older were mobile subscribers, with device manufacturer Samsung ranking as the top OEM at a 21.9 percent share of U.S. mobile subscribers, inching out Motorola by a fraction of a percent. LG (21.8 percent share) ranked closely behind them, with RIM (8.3 percent share) and Nokia (8.3 percent share) rounding out the top five.

In terms of mobile operator share, Verizon still proves number one with 31.1% market share, followed by AT&T at 25.2%, though Verizon lost market share compared to Q1 2009 while AT&T showed a slight gain.

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As a result of increasing wireless bills, a new survey found that two out of every three people who sign up for new wireless service in the U.S. opt to go prepaid instead of being locked into a lengthy and costly contract.

The survey was conducted by the New Millennium Research Council, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, who found that roughly 65 percent of the 4.2 million net subscribers added by U.S. phone carriers in Q4 2009 were prepaid.  In addition, prepaid providers grew 17% in Q4 2009 to 54.4 million subscribers, up from 46.3 million the previous year.

There were 285 million total wireless subscribers in the U.S. at the end of 2009, with one out of five now using prepaid phones, bringing prepaid users to 20% of the total wireless market, up from 18% at the end of 2009.

While the recession has no doubt played its part in the surge in prepaid subscribers, another key aspect is the type of plans offered by prepaid carriers- namely the “all-you-can-eat” unlimited tiers for $30-$45 per month.  Through the eyes of consumers, going prepaid makes much more sense, especially for the average mobile user.

Juniper Research recently published a new study regarding the growing use of mobile ticketing, stating that some 15 billion mobile tickets will be in use by 2014.  Though it sounds like a huge number, it’s only the beginning of an industry that’s poised for significant growth, according to Juniper.

This year, just over 2 million mobile tickets have been delivered to subscriber’s mobile devices worldwide, with the Far East and China regions leading the trend.  By 2014, however, Western Europe is predicted to take the top spot, given its advancements and device integration in recent times.

Not surprising, the transportation sector is leading the pack in terms of mobile ticketing up-tick, with SMS, barcode and even “app-driven” services being offered more and more by rail, metro and airline companies.  As the report suggests, mobile ticketing will transition to many other industries outside transportation by 2014, with interest from major cinema chains, concert organizers and sports teams.

Many consumer sectors are beginning to realize the commercial viability in mobile ticketing, with cost savings and up-sell revenue potential being the primary drivers.  Users have always responded well to mobile ticketing, especially as new technologies evolve that will help bring the technology mainstream.

NFC, or “near-field-communication,” is set to take mobile ticketing to the next level.  Reducing the steps taken to receive and redeem mobile tickets will do wonders in advancing the technology.  Once device integration with NFC starts to permeate other regions of the world outside the Far East, device limitation hurdles will be easier to overcome.

“Although 15 billion sounds large, it is in fact a small percentage of total tickets issued; there is plenty of scope for innovative solutions to penetrate this market,” says report Author Howard Wilcox.  “Next steps will see more widespread purchasing on mobiles, as well as use of NFC tickets.  Currently, however, there are only limited examples of NFC ticketing usage outside of the Far East, owing to the lack of device availability.”

Mobile handset sales have been on the decline throughout most of 2009, but according to research firms, the worst is behind us and Q4 is poised for a return of growth across all mobile handset segments.

Neil Mawston, an analyst with Strategy Analytics, is predicting the return to growth after a year of declining sales, but warns that major price-cutting will be a leading factor to the recovery- a strategy that should have been implemented long ago in my opinion.

Similarly, ABI Research also predicts an improvement in fourth quarter sales with Symbian-OS-based phones poised to lead the pack.  Though smartphones and new-age  mobile OSs such as the iPhone and Android OS seem to steal much of the spotlight, it’s Symbian-based devices that will remain number one throughout the return to growth in Q4.

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A new report by ABI Research has determined that the Asia Pacific region will lead the world in mobile marketing spend within the next 2-3 years.

Out of the overall global figure of $16 billion being spent on mobile marketing efforts, nearly half – or $7.7 billion – will be spent in the Asia Pacific region alone.  It’s been no secret that Asian countries lead the world in mobile technology in general, but seeing such high numbers in regards to mobile marketing is still surprising if you ask me.

A large part of the equation is the fact that most broadband-enabled countries like Japan and South Korea have successfully integrated mobile and the Internet, and done so on a very large scale.  This high level of mobile advancement has also meant that things like SMS text messaging, downloading of ad supported games and applications, as well as the mobile Web have been adopted widely and quickly by its consumers.  People learned to use these services and rapidly built them into their lifestyles.

Mobile marketing demands a new way of thinking about ad-campaigns when it comes to consumers, and those in Asian countries are already immersed in new mobile technologies and have been utilizing them for much longer than in other countries.  This makes for a very desirable audience for brands wanting to utilize mobile in their ad-campaigns, thus spending much more of their budgets on mobile.

The Asia Pacific region will undoubtedly become the testing ground for several mobile marketing methods that, if successful, will make their way into other parts of the world.  Things like mobile barcodes, image recognition and other new-age mobile technologies have already been widely successful in countries like Japan and South Korea, and are just now making their way to North America and other parts of the world.