Mobile search more popular than ever

The latest report from comScore M:Metrics says the number of people using mobile internet searches has grown by 30% in the UK over the last 12 months. Growth was 38% across Western Europe and 68% in the USA. 20.8 million US mobile phone customers and 4.5 million European mobile customers searched the web from their handsets in June 2008. The UK leads Europe and the USA with 9.5% of UK mobile customers using mobile search. [Press release]

US exceeds Europe for 3G penetration

Echoing recent figures about mobile web usage, research company comScore says the US now has a higher percentage of 3G users than Europe. 28.4% of all US mobile customers have 3G phones, compared with 28.3% of European mobile customers. Italy and Spain exceed penetration in the USA, but they're the only European countries that do. The actual figures are 64.2 million US 3G users and 63.4 million Europeans. These figures differ somewhat from Informa Telecoms & Media, which recently calculated that there were over 100 million 3G users in Europe. [Press release]

Mobile map usage up 72% in UK

The latest comScore M:Metrics report says maps on mobile phones are becoming increasingly popular. Year-on-year growth for the three-month period ending May 2008 shows that 4.5% of UK mobile phone customers have used mobile maps, which is a 72% increase. Overall, 3% of Europeans and 8% of American mobile subscribers access maps from their mobiles. In the US, the iPhone is the favourite choice for map users, while it's the Nokia N95 in Europe. When it comes to software, 73% of customers accessing maps are doing it via their mnobile browser in the US, compared to 57% in Europe. SMS services account for 24% in Europe and 23% in the US. [Press release]

European picture messaging has increased by 16% this year

Picture messaging has grown by 16% in Europe over the last 12 months... and by 60% in the USA, where the MMS trend started later. The latest M:Metrics Benchmark Study (published by comScore) also showed that US picture messaging usage is higher than average in July and August, while UK usage is higher in December. 78% of Europeans and 66% of Americans now own a camera phone, with nearly a quarter of all US mobile users and about a third of Europeans having sent or received photos in April this year. [Press release]