Pointing to the need for marketers to engage with users on multiple screens, a whopping 86 percent of smartphone users in the United States are mutitasking with their devices while interacting with another media such as television, print or Web.

Google has released the most-recent installment of its Our Mobile Planet study, which took a close-up view of worldwide smartphone adoption. The study surveyed smartphone owners in 26 countries and was commissioned by Ipsos MediaCT as well as the Mobile Marketing Association and the Interactive Advertising Bureau. 

"The 2012 Our Mobile Planet research shows that there is a global mobile movement underway," said Dai Pham, group product marketing manager of mobile ads at Google, Mountain View, CA. 

"Around the world, from the U.S. to the United Arab Emirates, from China to Brazil to France and more, smartphone adoption is increasing and this is transforming core consumer behaviors in how we search, shop, connect with others, keep entertained and look for local information," she said.

"With increased smartphone adoption, consumers can get information anytime, anywhere. They have the power of the Internet in the palm of their hand and that means customers have more opportunities to discover your business and engage with your brand. Businesses need to be where their customers are, and increasingly that means being on mobile."

Mobile-first world
According to the Google study, six countries ? Sweden, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Norway, and the UAE ? have reached a 50 percent smartphone adoption. Smartphone ownership was highest in the UAE with 62 percent of respondents owning a smartphone.

The research found that Norway, Britain and Sweden all had more than a 20 percent increase adoption in less than a year, showing how quickly mobile is growing.

Seven other countries surveyed had a 40 percent smartphone adoption. The countries are the U.S., Denmark, Ireland, Spain, New Zealand, Netherlands and Switzerland.

For marketers, the high number of smartphone users shows that although it is important to develop campaigns for both smartphones and feature phones, companies should plan for long-term initiatives when mobile ownership will significantly tip for smartphones.

The study also looked at how consumers in different countries use their devices with search to drive an action. Fifty-eight percent of French consumers, for example, visit a business after making a local search. Additionally, 32 percent of Italian consumers who use their devices to research nearby information made a purchase either in-store or online.

Given the size of a mobile device, searches are primarily being made for local results. For example, 50 percent of consumers in the U.S. and Canada said that they had used their device to look up restaurant or bar information. These searches are most likely being made while a consumer is away from a desktop and is looking for things that are nearby.

According to the report, commerce-enabled actions are gaining traction worldwide but are especially common in Asia. One hundred percent of Japanese smartphone users surveyed said that they used their device to research a purchase, and 59 percent of smartphone users in China have made a purchase via their mobile phone.

Therefore, having a full 360-degree mobile strategy that includes applications, a mobile site and search marketing is crucial.

In the U.S., 35 percent of smartphone owners hold their device in stores to help them comparison shop or learn more about a product. Meanwhile, 32 percent of consumers surveyed said that using their smartphone made them change their mind about a product or service, showing how powerful mobile can be to a brand's competitors.

Mobile habits
Although mobile devices are being used while consumers are the go, they are also increasingly being used at home.

For example, in Spain 91 percent of smartphone owners surveyed said that they had used their device while at home. Sixty-eight percent of consumers used their device while on the go, and 42 percent used their devices while in a store.

When it comes to what consumers are doing on their devices, social media is a main driver. In the U.S., 80 percent of participants said that they used their smartphones to access social media and 55 percent of those users connect with social media at least once a day on mobile.

Video is a hot spot for smartphone users. Seventy-six percent of U.S. consumers surveyed said that they watched video on their devices, 25 percent of which watch videos daily.

Desktop search is also being swapped out for mobile. For instance, in Australia, 65 percent of smartphone owners surveyed said they accessed the Internet on their device at least once a day. Fifty-seven percent of those consumers said they used their devices for email, 55 percent connected with social media and 54 percent used search engines.

With the small size of mobile devices, consumers have a shorter attention span when searching. Sixty-one percent of smartphone owners in the U.S. only look at the first page of search results when making a mobile search. Additionally, 89 percent of users notice mobile advertisements, and 40 percent of consumers remembered seeing a mobile ad on a search engine.

Mobile expectations
Although smartphone owners do download a high number of applications, the majority of them are free or do not get used often. In Britain, the average consumer has 23 apps downloaded. Nine of these apps have been used in the last month, and six of them are paid downloads.

Not only do smartphone owners expect to use their devices to access information, they also have higher long-term expectations for what they will be able to do on mobile.

In the U.S., 35 percent of smartphone users expect to use the Internet via their devices more in the future.

"The businesses that succeed will be the ones that understand this massive shift in consumer behavior and adapt their business and marketing strategies to mobile," Ms. Pham said.

"Can you easily be found when someone looks for you on mobile? Does your business have a mobile-optimized site? Are you making mobile a core part of your cross-media and cross-channel strategies?" she said.

"The research shows that businesses need to be doing these things as consumers go online on mobile, look for local information, multitask with their phones while consuming other media and use their smartphones to shop and make purchase decisions."

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York