Segmentation » mobilegroove

QUARTER OF GLOBAL USERS ACCESS MOBILE INTERNET VIA NOVARRA PLATFORM. Novarra announced its Mobile Internet Experience Update with the news that two thirds of U.S. mobile phone users and one quarter of all global users have access to some form of mobile Internet service via the Novarra platform today. A benchmark report gives a broad overview of how consumers access and use the internet via mobile phones with Novarra's Vision browser and mobile Internet platform. Among the overall findings:

• Devices don't' matter (much): Users with standard feature phones will use the Web as much or even more than a smartphone user if the mobile Internet experience is good
• There is a 'long tail' in the mobile Internet: The top website typically accounts for 5 percent of total mobile page views. The number two site accounts for less than 1 percent of traffic. And the top 500 sites account for only 25-30 percent of all page views
• Sessions vary: 40 percent of mobile internet sessions are under five minutes and 40 percent are over 15 minutes

The report further groups mobile users into 'tribes' based on their distinctive user profiles. These are:

• The Business Pro - Dependent on their mobile to be more productive and to handle all their communications
• The Mobile Millennial - Early adopters and young adults with disposable income
• The Connected Kid - Children and teenagers who have grown up with technology from a young age
• Frugal Fanatics utilise handset customisation services more than twice as much as any other group
• Connected Kids have far more page views relative to sessions than any other group, indicating they tend to surf more for entertainment purposes
• Source

It's great to kick of the New Year with an analysis of some of the companies and developments sure to leave their mark on 2009. In the case of Taptu - a provider of "socially assisted" mobile search that MSG has tracked from day one - it's a case of both. It's a company we're sure to hear more from and - more importantly - it's a company whose recent deals with Gofresh-owned itsmy.com point the way to one trend high on my radar: The natural fit between mobile social networks and mobile search. I caught up with Steve Ives, Taptu CEO, in an exclusive interview where he revealed the recent deal with itsmy.com is just the start. Look for three more deals with mobile social networks before February. Also expect Taptu to sharpen its focus on mobile search monetization, particularly in the U.S. where Steve tells me most of his traffic is. (And there's an even better reason to concentrate on mobile search sponsored links, sources tell me CPMs around key word search terms are in the $3-$10 range.)