The Mobile Data Association (MDA) has made public a summary of its latest report on the texting habits of the UK population – saying we like messaging is a bit like saying ‘a fish is keen on water’, but perhaps we didn’t recognize the scale of it before (no pun intended)!

The continued growth of messaging is highlighted by a 2009 daily average of 265 million text messages and 1.6 million picture messages.  2009’s text message total was 96.8 billion, while over 600 million picture messages were sent across the whole year.

Seasonal drivers still appear to propel the use of Picture Messaging, with 4.5 million picture messages being sent on Christmas Day itself, while Network Operators’ figures also indicated an upturn in picture messaging during the recent cold snap.

Assessing the findings of the MDA’s report, Rob Bamforth, Principal Analyst at Quocirca, said: “New generation touchscreen handsets and the bundling of SMS messages into many tariffs has made texting easier, and seen its role develop.  Now it is not only a convenient medium for a quick chat with friends, but also a way of participating in television voting and raising funds for needy charities.  When a powerful call to action is given, the population of the UK often turn first towards their mobile phones.”

Steve Reynolds, MDA Chairman, said: “These statistics show that even with new social media forms of messaging such as Twitter and Facebook, people are using SMS as a social messaging tool because of its simplicity and ubiquity. There remains a significant and still developing role for text messaging.  In a seemingly relentless tide of status updates, tweets and pokes, the UK population’s love affair with  mobile messaging for instant, on-the-go communication continues to deepen.”

In case you love the detail, here are the Q4 2009 Statistical findings

Text Messaging (SMS)

Total number of text messages (SMS) sent in:

• 2009 total 96.8 billion
• 2008 total 78.9 billion
• 2007 total 56.9 billion

These SMS statistics can be broken down as follows in 2009:

• Year on year growth (2009 vs 2008): 23% growth
• Number of text messages sent per day: 265 million

Video and Picture messages (MMS)

Total number of picture messages (MMS) sent in:

• 2009 total 601 million
• 2008 total 553 million
• 2007 total 449 million

These statistics can be broken down as follows in 2009:

• Year on year growth (2009 vs 2008): 9% growth
• Number of MMS messages sent per day: 1.6 million

I think we all need a sit down with a nice cold drink after that veritable stat attack

If you’re thinking about updating your iPhone to the latest iPhone OS 3.1.3 firmware, you might want to note that the update will essentially stop you from unlocking your iPhone for use on GSM networks that aren’t your official iPhone carrier. The iPhone OS 3.1.3 firmware comes bundled with a new baseband firmware version (05.12.01) that makes it impossible to unlock the iPhone to use on, say, the T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) USA network. We’re telling you this because we’re a bit surprised by new stats from Medialets that indicates that 14% of iPhone users have updated their iPhones to the new iPhone OS 3.1.3 since last week.

The baseband modem is the piece of technology that allows your iPhone to communicate with wireless networks like AT&T (NYSE: T) and T-Mobile. It’s this baseband modem’s firmware that controls whether or not you’re allowed to surf multiple GSM networks, or just the one that sold you your iPhone. The thing is, there are hacks out there that will unlock almost all versions of the baseband, but none of them work on this latest version. Even the latest iPhone hacking utility, PwnageTool, won’t be able to hack this new baseband to work with unlocking utilities like blacksn0w or ultrasn0w.

Medialets also mentions that 87% of those that updated to iPhone OS 3.1.3 came from the previous iPhone OS 3.1.2 firmware. The only real benefits of the new iPhone OS are it’s less buggy batter meter and better support for third-party apps that were reportedly crashing with 3.1.2. Considering that most people probably don’t need the iPhone OS 3.1.3, we thought it was only right that we let you know what you’re losing by updating your iPhone.

In the end, if you don’t travel or could care less about using your iPhone on other GSM networks, just ignore this post. This concludes our Public Service Announcement. You’ll now be returned to your regularly scheduled programming.

[Via: Medialets]

While not quite up to the kind of sales numbers that the iPhone and Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Droid have been enjoying, Google’s Nexus One has managed to find 80,000 new homes in January. Following up on a report that Google sold 20,000 Nexus One Android phones in the first week of sales, it seems Google has been selling their first smartphone at a steady rate of 20k per week. The sales figures – which come from Flurry Analytics by way of the WSJ – aren’t anything to write home about, and definitely won’t give Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) or Motorola reason to lose sleep at night, but they do hint at an interesting potential future for the Nexus One – that of the undercover blockbuster hit.

Again, 80,000 units sold during a launch month is not impressive for the a smartphone of the Nexus One’s pedigree. But, keep in mind that sales have been steady and decently strong – again, not compared to the iPhone, but 80,000 is not a small number in and of itself. Also, keep in mind that the Nexus One is only fully functional on T-Mobile’s 3G network. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) will be launching the Nexus One in the spring, which will open up the Nexus One to a whole new market. It’s also rumored to hit AT&T (NYSE: T).

When the Nexus One goes live on Verizon, the phone could very well go from undercover status to a true-blue blockbuster success. What do you think, dear reader? Will the Nexus One come into its own once it hits Verizon? Will sales continue to lag (relatively) throughout the year? Keep in mind that Android 2.1 OS will be rolled out to other Android phones by that time.

[Via: I4U]

On the heels of the iPad launch, ABI Research released a new report on tablet computers. The research company forecasts that this year will end with 4 million tablets shipped, whereas that number will grow to 57 million by 2015.

ABI Research defines media tablet as a device with a 5.11-inch or larger touchscreen with Wi-Fi connectivity and video and gaming capabilities.

ABI’s senior analyst Jeff Orr thinks that the biggest challenge faced by the media tablet category is how they will reach the market and generate awareness among potential buyers. “New entrants to this market are at a disadvantage since they lack the retail relationships and network operator agreements already built by the more mature vendors. Surprisingly, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) may have done them a favor by raising the public profile of the whole media tablet category,” he added.

And in case you want to know more, ABI has a whole new study titled “Media Tablets,” which defines the new product category, discusses market drivers and inhibitors, and provides information about distribution channels, go-to-market strategies, product pricing and availability.

A new Juniper Research’s study forecasts that nearly 15 billion tickets will be delivered via mobile devices worldwide by 2014 – up from just over two billion this year. The report suggests that the transport sector is developing fastest with SMS, barcode and increasingly, app driven services being offered by rail and metro companies and airlines.

In addition, it is expected that major cinema chains, concert organizers and sports teams will be latching on to the commercial viability. The reasons are found in cost savings, up-sell revenue potential and the convenience for the user.

Further key findings from the report include:

• Western Europe will be the leading region in 2014 based on number of mobile tickets delivered, taking over from current leader – Far East and China region.
• Market constraints include business models and coordinating ticketing schemes across multiple operators.

Additional details about the report titled “Mobile Ticketing Applications & Markets: Transport, Sport & Entertainment 2009-2014″ are available from Juniper’s website.

The latest research from Strategy Analytics says that the global smartphone shipments grew 30% year-over-year, to reach a record 53 million units in Q4 2009. The research company says this is the strongest period of growth since Q3 2008, and now we have smartphones effectively leading the handset industry out of recession.

Some of the findings include:

• Nokia (NYSE: NOK) shipped a record 20.8 million smartphones worldwide in Q4 2009, rising 38% from 15.1 million units a year earlier. Key models included the E71 and E72.
• Another record setter is RIM, which shipped 10.7 million units in the quarter.
• Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) on its end is responsible for 8.7 million iPhones shipped.
• In total, global smartphone shipments reached 173.8 million units in 2009, growing 15% from 2008.

[Via: CellularNews]

According to Digitimes Research, Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is likely to unseat HTC as the world’s top vendor of Android-powered handsets this year. Apparently, Moto’s shipments of Android phones will account for a 34.7% share of the segment compared to HTC’s 31.9%.

HTC ended last year with six million Android phones shipped, making the company the number one vendor with a 64.5% share of the segment. However, Motorola was able to move 2 million Droid/Milestone unites — or 25% of global Android phone sales — in less than three months. And since the Droid introduction, the American company has also released other Android models with plans to launch a total of 30 Android phones in 2010. Digitimes believes this strategy could help MOTO eventually ship a total of 12.5-15.6 million units by the end of the year. At the same time, total sales of Android smartphones are expected to reach 35-36 million units…

We’re certainly happy to see Motorola getting back to the game and are looking forward to check their latest products at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

[Via: Digitimes]

A new report by Pyramid Research suggests that the number of mobile social networking users in Europe is expected to increase from 52 million in 2009 to 112 million at the end of this year and eventually to over 450 million by 2014.

For this growth to last throughout the entire forecast period, both mobile operators and SNSs should strengthen their collaboration and bring it to a new level. Social networking sites’ proactive role certainly helped and in that sense Pyramid cites Facebook example which was able to go from only 5 million in January 2008 to an estimated 85 million users in December 2009. 30% of that number represents European users, according to the research company’s estimates.

The report titled “Mobile Operators See Strong Revenue Potential from Social Networking” examines the business model while addressing three possible drivers of uptake: a quality user experience based on the high penetration of 3G and smartphones that we project across Europe; operators’ efforts aimed at increasing mobile social networking uptake; and the efforts of social network providers to promote the value of mobility among their users. Additional details are available from Pyramid Research’s website.

SNL Kagan has released a new study suggesting that mobile game publishers grossed nearly $540 million in top-line revenue in the U.S. in 2009, up at a 12% CAGR from $382 million in 2006.

SNL Kagan has also ranked the leading mobile game publishers by U.S. revenue from third-quarter 2005 to fourth-quarter 2009. In case you’re wondering, the top four publishers are EA Mobile, Gameloft, Glu and Namco Bandai.

They’ve also found that while profitability varies by publisher, the overall margin for the industry is on the rise. According to SNL Kagan, the U.S. mobile game industry’s EBITDA margin has grown from negative 19% in Q3 2005 to an estimated 17% in Q4 2009. Unsurprisingly, publishers with libraries of classic game hits or those that develop popular games using their own intellectual property have the most financial success.

Finally, the company’s analyst John Fletcher noted that the landscape has changed dramatically in the past two years with app stores and smartphones representing a new and fast-growing frontier…

[Via: CellularNews]

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s AppStore may be ruling the Western hemisphere, but Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s Ovi Store is the king in the emerging markets of Asia-Pacific and Latin America. That’s according to Evans Data Corp’s newly released Wireless Development Survey, which also said that Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s Windows Marketplace for Mobile is performing well in case when apps are sold directly through a carrier.

However, it’s not monetization that’s top priority for developers in selecting a platform – it’s the technical issues such as OS, application runtime, and development tools.

Other highlights of the survey include:

• Java Data Objects are the most likely way to connect back-end applications to wireless apps.
• More than 60% of wireless development projects are completed within 6 months or less.
• Intel’s processors are targeted by more wireless developers than any other vendor including ARM and nVidia.

I’m not sure I can agree with the last point – iPhone is ARM-based and the AppStore is bursting with apps. Go figure.

And in case you’re wondering, the results come from surveying of more than 400 wireless developers in December 2009.