Mobile data usage increases but data revenue lags
Mobile data usage continues to grow, but the increase in data traffic does not mean a corresponding rise in data revenue for carriers.

According to a recent study conducted by ABI Research, data usage ? from 2009 to 2015 ? in Western Europe and North America is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 42 percent and 55 percent respectively. According to the company, the increase of usage is driven by the rapid adoption of smartphones in markets.

In 2010, the average North American user is expected to consume 159 megabytes of data ? up from 100 megabytes in 2009, per ABI Research.

Mobile data revenues are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of about 18 percent in North America.

This presents a challenge for carriers because they have to manage the demands on their networks without a corresponding increase in income, per ABI Research.

Mobile video revenue expected to triple to $1.4B by 2014
Mobile video market revenues are expected to roughly triple between 2009 and 2014, from $436 million to $1.34 billion, according to eMarketer.

According to the company?s recent study, the revenues, which include direct downloads, subscriptions and ad-supported video, are expected to reach $548 million in 2010 as the population of mobile video viewers in the United States grows to 23.9 million.

One of the primary revenue streams ? the ad-supported component ? will be the fastest growing, per eMarketer.

Additionally, ad-supported mobile video revenues will post a 60 percent CAGR between 2009 and 2014.

The study reports that the number of mobile video viewers will continue to grow in the double digits for a CAGR of 22.8 percent from 2009 through 2014.

3.8B mobile devices to contain Web browsers by 2015
By 2015, 3.8 billion mobile devices will contain mobile Web browsers, according to a new study from ABI Research.

This means that slightly more than 60 percent of the installed base of mobile handsets worldwide will feature Internet browsers, doubling today?s penetration rate.

According to the ?Mobile Browsers? study, the installed base of full Internet browsers will exceed that of proxy-based browsers sometime in 2012.

A key to the growth of full Internet browsers in higher-end feature phones is the falling cost of sophisticated applications processors, according to the company.

Mobile browsers have evolved and are being positioned in terms of devices, markets and capabilities, per ABI Research.

Mobile TV Networks show disappointing adoption levels
Mobile TV networks are showing disappointing adoption levels of their services and are expected to reach only 5 percent of 190 million paid mobile users, according to a recent Juniper study.

According to Juniper, the number of paying subscribers to networks based on standards such as DVB-H, DMB, CMMB and MediaFLO were not expected to exceed 10 million globally until 2013 ? at the earliest.

In addition, by 2013, more than 180 million mobile consumers will be subscribing to 3G/4G/WiFi-enabled mobile TV services.

MediaFLO has been hamstrung by various factors, including the delay in analogue switch off, which prevented it from gaining national coverage, and the fact that its partners set the service price at too high a level which put off potential customers, per Juniper.

However, the company argues that MediaFLO may have better long-term prospects in Asian markets such as Japan and Taiwan, and that its may be better served if they focus on delivering a wide range of data services rather than as acting as pure mobile TV distributors.