Mobile Search Experiences Strong Growth in U.S., Europe

comScore M:Metrics recently released figures showing the state of mobile search in the U.S. and Western Europe. In June 2008, 20.8 million U.S. mobile users utilized mobile search, compared to 12.4 million users in June 2007. This reflects a 68% increase in the number of mobile search users in the U.S.

These 20.8 million mobile search users in the U.S. make up 9.2% of the total mobile subscriber population. In June 2007, 5.8% of mobile subscribers were utilizing mobile search.

In Europe, 12.6 million mobile subscribers used mobile search during the month of June, compared to 9.2 million in June of last year. This reflects growth of 38%.

These 12.6 million mobile search users make up 5.6% of the total mobile subscriber population in Europe, compared to 4.3% last June.

The United Kingdom boasted the largest share of mobile search users in Europe with 4.5 million users in June 2008 (9.5% of the total mobile subscriber population), a 30% increase from last June’s 3.5 million mobile search using population (7.7% of the total mobile subscriber population). In this regard, the U.K. leads the U.S. with stronger mobile search penetration.

France’s mobile search population grew a whopping 48% from last June to this June, from 1.5 million users to 2.2 million users. Italy, Germany, and Spain all experienced growth of 40%.

As for the question of which mobile search provider is preferred in these countries, the obvious answer is the right one: Google. In the U.S., Google controls 63.0% of mobile searchers, followed by Yahoo! with 34.6%. In the U.K., Google has grabbed 74.0% of the market, followed by Yahoo! with 16.2%.

Google has even larger shares in Spain (82.5%), Germany (85.1%), and Italy (88.1%). MSN/Live Search is second in Spain (12.1%) and France (9.6%).

All numbers are based on three-month averages ending June 2008.

Source:
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2469