Mobile Internet and email services have gained popularity amongst consumers in the United States and this has serveral implications for mobile marketers. 

A study by Parks Associates claims that 44 percent of Americans pay for non-text mobile data services. Adoption of non-text mobile data services has exceeded 40 percent of the more than 70 million U.S. broadband households with a mobile phone service.

?Among many significant findings from the survey, we see substantial increase in smartphone adoption over the last couple of years, increased use of social networking, search, and emailing from the phone, and they both drive the adoption of non-text mobile data services,? said Harry Wang, director of health and mobile product research at Parks Associates, Dallas.

?Our data also shows mobile ad recall rate is still low, which may be caused in part by ineffective design and placement of mobile marketing messages and bad choice of ad formats,? he said.

The study titled, "Mobile Convergence: Platforms, Applications, and Services,? found that more than one-fourth of mobile service users have adopted mobile Internet and email services, eclipsing other mobile data ARPU drivers like mobile television and music.

The fast adoption of mobile social networking and navigation services both exceeded 10 percent.

Non-text mobile data services such as the increase in usage of mobile Internet, email, social networking, and navigation during the past two years shows consumers are eager for mobile applications that offer convenience and rich features.

The explosion of smartphones is one of the reasons for this growth. Smartphone penetration will exceed 30 percent of broadband households in 2009.

These 20 million households will be a good target for mobile marketers. 

Tips for mobile marketers
?The mobile platform is about personalization and instant fulfillment of needs,? Mr. Wang said. ?Small handset screens also limits the size of any promotional image or graphic ads.

?Marketers should first explore means to plug in their messages in a concise and straight-forward format so that mobile users will get it in a couple of seconds,? he said. ?Second, rapid use of mobile Internet is a blessing to marketers.?

Improved browser functions allow marketers to present their brands and messages more visibly but consumers might not ready to be bombarded by all types of ad formats common on the Internet.

So, marketers must be discretional with their choice of ad format, placement and design.

Mr. Wang had some recommendations for marketers.

?Avoid using flashy, long-form ads, make marketing messages actionable (like click-to-call), and purchase ad inventory adjacent to most frequently used applications like search box, Web email login in box, social Web page header and etcetera,? he said.