tablets

Emarketer points to two recent studies in reporting that "in the U.S., 67% of mobile Internet users... said they mostly or only used mobile, as opposed to the desktop, to go online and surf the web." Those surveys were conducted by Decision Fuel and On Device Research in November of last year.

Another study eMarketer cites is by the Media Behavior Institute. Among its U.S. study subjects, "the percentage on desktop slipped by 5 points between the six-month period ending in July 2012 and the six-month period ending in January 2013." An average of more than 43% of participants went online via a mobile phone each week in January 2013, which is 8 points more than the period that ended the previous July.

Tablets' average weekly reach grew by 4 percentage points, and were used by 17% of subjects by the study's end.

Read more in eMarketer here.

New devices rumored to be coming soon from Amazon and Apple may aim to put smartphones and tablets in the hands of new consumers, like those who have so far stuck with "dumbphones." That means more people potentially accessing apps and streaming web radio.

Amazon is rumored to be building its own smartphone. Not so far-fetched, considering it already offers the Kindle Fire -- an Android tablet device (RAIN coverage here).

GigaOM predicts the goal of a smartphone from Amazon "would be to go after the 50% of people who don't have a smartphone." Indeed, "a survey earlier this year found that consumers were more interested in a phone from Amazon than they were in one from Facebook," points out All Things Digital (here). 

"If Amazon can give consumers a dirt cheap but very capable smartphone, it could attract a number of users at launch and set it up for better success as it puts out more capable phones down the road," comments GigaOM (here).

Meanwhile, a myriad of publications report that Apple will soon launch a smaller (7" screen), cheaper (around $200) iPad. Such a move would not only hurt competitors like Google -- which unveiled its own relatively small tablet recent, more here -- but also get more consumers using tablets.

"As you drop the price point and size, you are opening up consumers you weren't addressing before," said Brian White, an analyst with Topeka Capital Markets. "Having something you can hold in one hand seems to matter to some people and may matter in emerging markets," said Frank Gillett, a Forrester Research analyst.

In June, a study found that around a third of U.S. Internet users owned a tablet (more here). A recent Gartner survey found that 40% of mobile users listen to music on their devices (more here).

New research predicts the popularity of tablet devices like Apple's iPad won't abate any time soon. In fact, NPD DisplaySearch expects shipments of tablets to likely outpace that of notebook computers in 2016.

"Consumer preference for mobile computing devices is shifting from notebook to tablet PCs," said Richard Shim, a senior analyst at NPD DisplaySearch. "The lines between tablet and notebook PCs are blurring."

Mashable has more coverage here.

App developer jacAPPS has released the third iteration of mobile applications for radio (and others).

Its V3 is built for larger screens (like tablets), features unlimited horizontal scrolling, social sharing (Facebook, Twitter, e-mail), and album art display.

"Radio station brands are more than just their stream," said jacAPPS VP/GM Paul Jacobs. "They engage with audiences through multiple channels. And the V3 app enables time-shifting, social communication and sharing."

The jacAPPS V3 has also added optional revenue sharing (via Verve Wireless) and "push-messaging" (via Urban Airship). Clients can also updated immediately without going through any approval process.

Read more from jacAPPS here.

Arbitron has launched a mobile measurement service and already found that Pandora is among the top 5 most popular apps.

The new Arbitron Mobile Trends Panel uses an "on-device software meter" to track "how mobile consumers use apps, surf the web, engage in social media, participate in e-commerce, are exposed to and act on advertising, and employ their device to communicate," said Arbitron.

The Panel is made up of about 6,000 smartphone and tablet users. Recruitment began in November 2011, said Arbitron.

Results from Q1 2012 show that Facebook, Google Search, YouTube, Pandora and Yahoo Mail make up the top 5 apps. Facebook, the most popular smartphone app, has a monthly reach of 65%. Arbitron found that app usage is growing faster than web browsing.

Arbitron's announcement arrives at about the same time as a new report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), which found that mobile advertising grew 149% in 2011 to reach $1.6 billion. Internet ad revenue overall grew 22% to $31 billion -- "a landmark high," commented the IAB.

You can find more from Arbitron here and more on the IAB's new report here.

The U.S. mobile advertising market is "growing far faster than expected," according to new predictions from eMarketer. Users may be happy to accept these ads as well...so long as the mobile app or service is free.

eMarketer now predicts that mobile ad spending will grow 80% in 2012, reaching $2.61 billion. That's an upgrade from their earlier prediction of $1.8 billion. It predicts display advertising will grow 93.5% and video ads will increase 122%. "By 2015," eMarketer writes, "ad-supported mobile content revenues in the U.S. will surpass $1 billion, with growth rates slower but still strongly in the double digits."

Looking specifically at ad-supported mobile music, games and video services, eMarketer predicts ad revenues will grow 52.7% in 2012 (reaching $433.8 million) after growing 81.9% in 2011. By 2015, eMarketer estimates around 30% of mobile music, video and gaming revenues will come from ads. 

Borrell Associates recently predicted that mobile audio ad spending would reach $667 million by 2016 (RAIN coverage here).

Moreover, mobile users seem to approve. Nielsen's State of the Media report for 2011 found that 51% of mobile users are happy to accept mobile ads, as long as the app is free. The report also found that 45% of tablet and smartphone users downloaded a music app in a 30-day period. And 27% of users paid for a music app.

This all may be great news for Internet radio. Monetization of mobile listening is reportedly less than that of desktop listeners for some webcasters -- even as mobile becomes the dominant way to tune in to web radio.

For example, in October 2011 a Morgan Stanley analyst claimed that Pandora's desktop listeners generate nine times the revenue of the service's mobile users (RAIN coverage here).

You can find eMarketer's predictions here and here. Ars Technica has more coverage on the Nielsen report here.