According to Nielsen, 46.1 mobile data users in the U.S. used mobile search functions in the third quarter of 2007. Out of that number, Nielsen estimates that:
- The most popular form of mobile search among data users in Q3 2007 was 411 (18.1 million users), followed closely by SMS-based searching, which was used by 14.1 million users during the same period.
- Local listings were the leading search objective in terms of users (27.1 million), while 14.8 million said they searched for information such as sports scores, news or weather. Finally, nearly a quarter (11.3 million) said they searched for mobile content.
From a demographic perspective, Nielsen reports that among mobile data users:
- Demographics vary by search method. 61% of 411 search users are female, while 60% of WAP (or mobile web) search users are male.
- SMS-based searching skews younger when compared to other methods of search. In fact, 33% of SMS searchers are under 25.
- Within SMS search providers, Yahoo!, YellowPages SMS and SuperPages SMS all over-index for Hispanic users.
Those interested to know more — and pay for the information — can grab Nielsen’s “Mobile Search Report” which contains much more information on the subject.