Teenagers and texting have joined the likes of peanut butter and jelly as natural, inextricable pairs that may never again be separated for the duration of human history.

According to the latest data and corresponding insights from Nielsen, U.S. teenagers have tripled their mobile data usage in the last year – all while remaining kings and queens of texting.

Messaging remains the centerpiece of mobile teen behavior in the U.S. The number of messages exchanged (SMS and MMS) hit 3,417 messages per month per teen in Q3 2011, averaging seven messages per waking hour. Teen females are leading the charge, sending and receiving 3,952 messages per month versus 2,815 from males.

Read the full story

According to the findings presented in Nielsen’s State of the Media: The Mobile Media Report, the current mobile media landscape clearly shows a strong preference for mobile apps among smartphone owners.

On Thursday, Nielsen revealed via Nielsenwire that the majority of 25-34 and 18-24 year-olds now own smartphones – 64% and 53% respectively.

Nearly two-thirds of smartphone owners (62% to be exact) have downloaded apps on their devices during the last thirty days.

Read the full story

Today we continue 3Seventy’s “MobileMinute” weekly video series, where Andy Kennedy takes on the topic of mobile apps vs. the mobile Web in relation to an integrated mobile strategy.

There’s long been discussion on whether creating a mobile app is better than developing for the mobile Web and vice versa, but the fact is there’s no right or wrong answer to this debate.  Brands struggle with these decisions everyday and it comes down to what works best for each individual organization.

Read the full story

On Monday, executives at Keynote Systems – a well known Internet and mobile cloud monitoring outfit – announced plans to acquire Mobile Complete, Inc., which does business under the name of DeviceAnywhere.

DeviceAnywhere is a leading enterprise-class cloud-based platform for testing and monitoring mobile websites and apps.

The value of the acquisition is approximately $60.0 million.

In a press release issued Monday, Keynote hailed DeviceAnywhere as a provider of “award winning cloud-based products and services for testing and monitoring the functionality, usability, performance and availability of mobile apps and websites.”

Read the full story

Finland-based mobile analytics provider, CEM4Mobile Solutions, has published new survey results detailing consumer preference in regards to mobile apps vs. the mobile Web in terms of engagement, unique users and mobile ad impressions.

The company completed its research by using a sample of over 56 million mobile impressions from devices where both apps and mobile Web browsing were supported.  The results show that while the mobile Web sees more traffic and unique users as opposed to native apps, the engagement is much higher with native mobile apps.  In looking at the survey respondents, 90.15% of all unique users used the mobile Web, while just 9.85% used apps.  The sum of all visits was similar, with the mobile Web seeing 81.66% of all respondents while apps saw just 18.34%.

Read the full story

Within four short years, a majority of U.S.-based Internet users will access the web from their mobile devices, not their personal consumers.

According to projections contained within a new report from research firm IDC, the rate of mobile web use is set to balloon exponentially.

The predicted compound annual growth rate between 2010 and 2015 is 16.6%.

Read the full story

Based on interesting new research from NPD Group , a leading market research company, it appears that the general population is generally clueless about what cloud computing is all about.

According to the survey, just 22 percent of U.S. consumers were familiar with the term “cloud computing,” which denotes software applications or processes that are accessed from the Internet, rather than on personal computer hard drives.

While the term “cloud computing” is still confusing to many consumers, the activities that constitute cloud computing are being performed by the vast majority of consumers.

Read the full story