M:Metrics: China is the largest mobile market

Mobile may have gotten it's start in the US and Europe, but the Asian markets are quickly catching on. According to a recent M:Metrics study, China is now the world's largest mobile market!

by Kristina Knight

According to the report more than 34% of China's mobile population listened to mobile music during the reporting period and 10% downloaded a mobile game to play. More than 15% sent or received photos and videos via their mobiles; only about 1%, however, watched mobile video.

“China is the most important market for mobile technology in the world,” said Seamus McAteer, senior analyst for M:Metrics. “We are already seeing pent-up demand for this data among our client base, and will continue to report on this fascinating audience monthly through our MobiLens syndicated data service.”

Which handsets are the most popular? Nokia has the lead with 30% of users; however users with Sony Ericsson devices are nearly 2% more likely to send a photo or browse the mobile Internet.

According to a recent Jupiter Research forecast mobile marketing will reach 1.3 billion Euros by 2012. However there are still some stumbling blocks to the mobile marketplace. So far consumers have expressed that they aren't interested in paying for mobile content, they are, however, interested in watching ads in exchange for different content sources. As the ad sources continue to develop, more mobile users will likely log on to the mobile web.