WebProNews

Social networking remains the number one area of interest to mobile Internet users with Facebook and My Space being the top two search terms on both Google and Yahoo OneSearch, according to a report from mobile software and infrastructure provider Openwave Systems.

In terms of average hits per session, MySpace leads Facebook by nearly 46 percent, indicating that MySpace could become the preferred choice for mobile communications for a segment of the operator base and displace some popular email offerings.

In the mobile advertising marketplace AdMob servers nearly seven times more ads than its closest competitor, but it also has lower click through rate than rivals BuzzCity and Microsoft. AdMob's lower click through rate could be because of generic ads that are not relevant to the subscriber.

The report also found that Craigslist ranked number 7 within the top 10 search terms on Google, indicating a trend towards mobile classifieds for jobs, housing, bargain items and services during the economic downturn.

"Subscriber data has always been part of an operator's asset base, however extracting this information and transforming it to gain subscriber insight has been lacking," said Dan Nguyen, interim vice president, products and marketing, Openwave.

"In the current economic climate, better subscriber information and deep subscriber insight may help operators retain and gain customers.