According to a recent Experian study, currently there are 2.7 billion mobile phones globally in use. By comparison, there are 850 million personal computers, 1.3 billion fixed landline phones, and 1.5 billion TV sets.

In January 2001, only 13 percent of the global population carried a mobile phone. However, by December 2010, the figure will reach 70 percent, Media Post reported.

By the first quarter of 2006, 30 countries had already reached 100 percent per capita cell phone usage. In the United States, there were about 241 million mobile phone users in the same year, or about 80 percent per capita mobile phone penetration. However, according to the study, the U.S. market is not expected to top 100 percent per capita penetration until 2013.

Experian also quoted the Simmons New Media Study released in April 2008 to compare the mobile function usage among U.S. consumers. Nearly 60 percent of cell phone users have text messaged in the past 30 days, 49 percent have taken photos, five percent have used mobile GPS, and only two percent have shopped by mobile.

Among all the global mobile phone users, about two thirds of them, or 1.8 billion people, are active users of SMS text messaging. It even doubles the numbers of the global active users of e-mail.

The study said that continued technological innovation seems to make mobile more multi-functional as the PC. Larger screens and bigger storage capacity seem likely to increase music or movie usage on mobile, and the continued enhancement of mobile camera seems to make it a basic mobile feature. The innovation of touch-based user interfaces is also becoming the norm in mobile phones, Media Post reported.

Experian concludes that the boom of mobile usage has created a powerful new channel for marketers, where they can effectively delivered tailored messages to individual consumers. According to the Simmons New Media Study, over one out of three people surfing online for at least one hour a week showed interests in receiving ads via their mobile with a tangible incentive provided, Media Post reported.