Mobile subscribers in Europe totalled 703 million in 2005. Nearly 60 percent was from Western Europe, and the rest from Eastern Europe, according to the European Information Technology Observatory, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2008 reported.

This figure is expected to grow to 923 million in 2010, with an annual growth rate of 5.6 percent. The CAGR in Eastern Europe is more than three times that in Western Europe, with 9.4 percent versus 3 percent, respectively.

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Mobile phone company 3 unveiled its lower cost smartphone alternative INQ1today, and will launch it in the United Kingdom, Australia and Hong Kong beginning in December, the Guardian reported Monday.

Pronounced “ink one,” the phone targets users who want to surf the mobile Web, but can't really afford smartphones like the iPhone, Blackberry Storm or G1. Sure to be called the “Facebook phone,” INQ1 has a button that sends users straight to Facebook.

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Global mobile messaging revenues are expected to grow from US$66 billion in 2006 to $100.7 billion in 2010, according to a Frost & Sullivan’s study, commissioned by mobile open application platform Funambol, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2008 reported.

In 2006, nearly 70 percent of the revenues came from SMS, which accounted for $45 billion. In 2010, although SMS is expected to continue retaining the lion’s share, its revenues are actually not expected to grow much, totalling a projected $47 billion.

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Mobile messaging and content revenues in Western Europe will exceed €26 billion and €23 billion by 2011, respectively, according research by Analysys Research, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2008 reported.

In 2005, mobile messaging and content revenues in Western Europe collectively accounted for €23.3 billion, of which €4.9 billion was contributed by mobile content, while €18.4 came from mobile messaging.

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Global mobile entertainment revenues will boost from less than US$30 billion in 2008 to nearly $60 billion in 2012, according research by Juniper Research and eMarketer, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2008 reported.

Music and games make up the two biggest chunks in 2008, contributing about $10 billion and $8 billion. In 2012, they are expected to remain as the top two, but with relatively flat growth compared to other sectors.

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The Times Online has launched Times Mobile, which may be the first South African news Web site to publish mobile multimedia content, BizCommunity reported.

“The African mobile market is currently the fastest growing in the world, so it's important that every media company gears their strategy towards having a strong presence in the mobile arena,” said Colin Daniels, publisher of The Times Online.

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U.S. local online advertising is growing steadily. According to the local Internet advertising model constructed by Jupiter Research, in 2005 it totalled US$3.5 billion, will reach $5.7 billion by the end of this year, and is expected to achieve $8 billion by 2011, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2007 reported.

Classified advertising is the biggest contributor to total local online advertising. In 2005, it accounted for $2.4 billion, representing a nearly 70 percent share. It is expected to reach $4.9 billion, however, with the share dropping to about 60 percent in 2011.

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U.S. newspaper Web sites had more than 68.3 million unique visitors on average, and reached 41.4 percent of the U.S. online population in the third quarter, up 15.8 percent year-over-year, according to a custom analysis by Nielsen Online for the Newspaper Association of America, Media Post reported Monday.

These site visitors also viewed an average of more than 3.5 billion pages per month throughout the quarter, a growth of 25.2 percent over the same period.

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The weekly newspaper Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph is one of the latest to link up with Google, making its archives available on the Internet giant's search engine, The Chronicle reported Tuesday.

The Chronicle-Telegraph launched in 1764 as the Quebec Gazette, and claims to be North America's oldest continually published newspaper. The Quebec, Canada-based newspaper is looking for more ad revenue streams, and hopes partnering with Google will help.

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Australian companies will spend more than AU$17.9 billion in 2009 to deliver digital services, 17 percent more compared to this year, according to a new survey by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA), The Australian reported.

However, the authors of the survey blamed the government for not supporting the growth of a so-called “vital channel for commerce.”

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In September, Facebook became the no. 5 most popular Web site in the United Kingdom, seeing its traffic increase 80 percent from September 2007 to 18.4 million unique users, according to data from online measurement group ComScore, Media Guardian reported Monday.

As it rose to a position in the top five most visited sites, Facebook also became more popular than the BBC's network of Web sites.

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Dennis Publishing’s newest digital magazines, iGizmo and iMotor, each have more than 100,000 readers per issue, while its first digital title, Monkey, launched in 2006 and averages 283,541 readers weekly, according to ABCe figures, Press Gazette reported Thursday.

The UK publisher's iGizmo, a technology title, launched in February and has 101,785 readers per issue, according to figures July figures. iMotor, launched in July, averages 108,622 readers every two weeks.

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Social networking media is booming in the United States, reaching 67 percent of the total online population, according to October 2007 data from comScore, SFN's latest report, A Publishers Guide to New Technologies, reported.

Unique user numbers were up to 121.2 million, a 16 percent increase compared with November 2006.

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Ten Network will go easy on the advertising and heavy on sports in a new digital multi-channel sport service to be launched in the second quarter next year, The Australian reported Wednesday.

The service will be updated around the clock, and will have a goal of appealing to a broader audience than its current high definition channel, which focuses on 18- to 49-year-olds. The current HD channel will be renamed ONE and will be simulcast on its new standard definition channel, expected out in January.

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Norwegian media, communications and IT company Telenor has agreed to buy up to a 60 percent stake in part of a telecommunications unit in India-based Unitech Ltd. for a price tag of more than 61.2 billion rupees (US$1.23 billion), The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Telenor, also an SFN partner, will fund the investment through a “draw-down on existing credit facilities and/or issuance of short-term commercial paper,” Digital Media Asia reported Wednesday.

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