Juniper Research’s Mobile Web 2.0 report forecasts that the value of presence based Mobile Web 2.0 services will increase to more than $6 billion by 2012. Two factors that will help spur the growth are a growing number of smartphone users and an increased usage of mobile instant messaging.
However, the report also noted problems with monetizing Mobile Web 2.0 services, adding that opportunities exist across a range of business models, including subscription-based services to ad-funded solutions.
At the moment, revenues are mostly derived from operator-billed mobile IM accounts, but that could change to the ad-supported model in the future.
As for the mobile VoIP, although many operators have historically sought to block VoIP services, that will change as mobile broadband becomes more prevalent and new operator business models facilitate the inclusion of VoIP services.
And before I let you go to visit Juniper’s website where you can get additional details on their report, you should know they define Mobile Web 2.0 as a mix of presence services (SMS), geolocation and social web.