"We believe mobile Internet has reached a critical mass as an advertising medium in the US," a new report states.  "As of May 2008, there were 40 million active users of the mobile Internet in the US . . . .  This provides scalable marketing potential with demographic breadth."

 Mobile Numbers On The Rise

Unfortunately, Nielsen Mobile didn’t get into dollar figures or growth forecasts; what the new iPhone and 3G networks will do isn’t clear.  Yet, believe it or not, Yahoo seems best positioned to benefit from future developments.

Yahoo Mail was the most popular website with mobile Americans, receiving about 14.2 million users in May.  The runner-up, Google Search, took in only 9.1 million people, and MSN Hotmail scored closer to the 7.9 million mark.  You won’t often see a spread like that.

As for international angles, advertising looks set to take off overseas, too.  Nielsen Media puts the U.S. in first place, but the UK, Italy, and Russia aren’t far behind.

Nielsen Mobile detailed the new report, which sees purchasing of goods and services via mobile phones on the rise. And guess which gender likes spending more via their mobiles. Wrong – it’s men. 4.9 million men vs 4.3 million woman indicated they have made a purchase via their phone.

In the US, of the 40 million active users of the mobile web, 5 million of them visited shopping and auction websites (e.g eBay) during April 2008 – That’s up 73 per cent from April 2007.

Nielsen’s report also highlighted an increasing willingness to make purchases via text messaging , with apparently 6.5 million users already utilizing sms based purchasing.

Mobile is definitely asserting itself as the next frontier for retailers and online businesses.

Just this weekend, i turned to good old Google Maps on my Blackberry to find a local "fish and chip" shop. The only thing missing from the experience was the ability to order online via my phone rather than having to call up (tip of the week for would-be restaurant entrepreneurs).

If your business is targeting local markets or is suited to low involvement online purchasing – then mobile is definitely increasing the relevance of search engine advertising to your company. It might even be worth exploring a mobile friendly version of your website. 9 million users in the US alone are ready to buy!