According to Cisco, worldwide mobile data use is projected to hit 3.5 million terabytes by 2014 (via Technology Review) – the year in which mobile is set to overtake PC Internet use.

Western Europe (30%) and Asia Pacific (26%) will both have higher share of the global mobile data total than North America (22%).    However, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America are showing the highest rates of growth – albeit from a relatively small base.

The ITU says that 1.6 billion had home Internet access by in 2010, up from 1.4 billion last year.   That figure should pass two billion over the next few months, which means that around 30% of the planet will have home Internet access.

That obviously varies by continent, from 9.6/100 in Africa to 2/3 of the population (65/100) in Europe.

In comparison though 90% of the world’s population is within reach of a mobile phone network.  By the end of the year, there should be 5.3 billion mobile subscriptions.   In other words, the majority of the world’s population now has a mobile/cell phone.

Most of that growth is in the developing world – while there are now 116 mobile phones per 100 inhabitants in the developed world, there is still room for growth in the developing world where penetration is 68%.

Related articles

• 6.1 trillion text messages to be sent in 2010 (news.cnet.com)
• Mobile Networks Penetrate 90% Of World’s Population (informationweek.com)

Some stats out from Nielsen (via Marketing Charts) show that North Americans and Europeans are less enthusiastic adopters of mobile video than web users in other parts of the world.

If 100 is the global average, then the European Union scores 55, while North America comes out even worse at 45.   Compare that to Asia Pacific at 145 and the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan (why that combo?) at 136.

Why is this significant?  Because using mobile video is the tipping point at which people switch from their laptop or PC being their primary Internet device, to their mobile.

This is according to a study by Transpera a year ago, which showed that 62% of mobile video users use their mobile/cellphones to browse the Internet more than they use their computers.

Perhaps one reason for the North America and European figures could be down to increased data capping, with both AT&T in the US and the major UK operators having called time on unlimited mobile data.  If so, pricing is having a real impact on consumer behaviour and online habits.

Meanwhile in Japan, Softbank still allows unlimited data for its iPhone4 plans.   And with the Middle East being quick on the mobile video uptake, UAE telecoms company DU has an unlimited data plan with a ‘fair use’ policy of a whopping 10gb.   Compare that to the fair use policy of Orange in the UK of…750mb.

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To highlight the work done by People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) in South Africa, Ogilvy carried out an experiment, which involved renting a townhouse in a suburban Jo’burg complex.

For two nights the guy they had renting the place played the drums at full tilt.   The next night he played a domestic violence recording.  No guesses which of the two got the neighbours steamed up.

According to POWA, every year in South Africa 1400 women are killed by their partners.

(Via the Denver Egotist)

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• POWA – A neighbourhood experiment (10and5.com)
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Something I spotted on South African marketing site 10and5 is this story of a pair of Cape Town parking attendants who were given a 1.4 million rand – or according to iol.co.za 1.9 million (£161k / $262k) – Audi R8 by a mystery benefactor.

Apparently the businessman asked them to use it to perform good deeds, “because of a dream he had.” The two parking guards have since cut a slit in the hood of the Audi for people to drop donations and suggestions.

An extreme and heart warming case of pay it forward, or as iol.co.za suggests money that could have been used to generate extra interest to feed the homeless? Or, maybe a PR stunt, though the car carries no branding whatsoever (other than the hand made ‘future for all sign’).

Whichever version you believe, it really is, as 10and5 says, a fairy tale come true.

Check out the short clip of the new owners of the car above.

NMA has a piece on ‘social networks ignore mobile at their peril.‘ Though most of it is behind a pay-wall, the gist of it is that social media is being accessed more and more via cellphones.

In particular, NMA talks about specially commissioned research for Nielsen and the fact that 65 million Facebook users – so more than 1/5 of the total – now access their social networks from their mobiles.

These users are apparently 50% more active than purely web based users, my guess is that this is so due to the fact that purpose built apps make accessing social media via your phone fairly easy, while surfing the Internet can be an unsatisfactory experience.

Overall, the gist of article, about the growth of the mobile Internet, is of course right and it’s worth summarising a few recent stats that make the same point, namely:

• According to UK regulator OFCOM, for 16-24 year olds, mobile phones are their second most essential media, ahead of PCs+Internet (for other age groups, its reversed)
• A report conducted by Transpera in the US showed that once someone starts graduating onto mobile video with their phone, they are hooked and use it as their main way to go online. According to the results, 62% if mobile video users use their cellphones to browse the Internet more than they do their computers
• iPhone users are richer, younger and better educated than the average. Read – early adopters and people generally ahead of the curve use smartphones
• Mobile phones are becoming our remote controls for life, 2/3 of us even take them to bed with us! More to the point, 17% of people globally (and 26% in the US, 25% in the UK) check their emails via their cellphones
• Though mobile click through rates are pretty appalling (at least in Europe and the US – here in Africa they are actually quite high), once you serve up consumers with ‘location based’ advertising, it can work. According to Navteq, 72% of consumers found location based ads to be “acceptable” (whatever that means), but 19% who recalled seeing them would click through for info on what’s nearby

Back to the NMA piece, according to 3 mobile boss Kevin Murphy, ‘there’s now an “overwhelming awareness” among consumers of the ability to use social networks on mobile.’ What’s needed now is for social networks, and indeed brands, to take further advantage of that fact.

Image – Angelsk