Mobile Internet and video viewing ramps up

16% of mobile phone users in the U.S. accessed the Internet (30-day time frame)

A report that may seem somewhat surprising shows that the U.S. leads in mobile Internet penetration. According to the just-released Nielsen Mobile report (See embedded report below), 16% of mobile phone users, or 40 million people, in the U.S. accessed the Internet (based on a 30-day time frame). This is up from 22.4 million in July 2006. The 16% accessing the Internet via their phones puts the U.S. above the U.K., at 13% and Italy, at 12%. 

Moreover, in yet another report on viewing habits on TV, Internet and mobile usage, released by Nielsen, people are spending 3 hours and 15 minutes a month watching videos on their cell phones. This compares to 2 hours watching video on the computer. 

Other findings from the Nielsen Mobile report are:

There were 254 million mobile phone subscribers in the U.S. in the first quarter 2008, according to CTIA.

57% of the 254 million U.S. subscribers were data users, meaning they accessed the Internet or sent text messages

37% of mobile users paid to access the Internet, either as part of subscription or transactionally

Mobile Internet use accounted for $1.7 billion in revenue in the first quarter of this year, putting it on a higher run-rate than the $5 billion for all of 2007.