Mobile Personalization

A new study from ABI Research (News - Alert) says that by the year 2015, 3.8 billion mobile handsets, a little more than 60 percent of the installed base of mobile handsets worldwide, are expected to contain mobile web browsers. Which means that today’s penetration rate would be doubled.

“Mobile browsers are evolving along two paths,” said Mark Beccue a senior analyst. “On one hand, highly sophisticated browsers, which we are calling full Internet browsers, will be found in all smartphones and a growing number of enhanced (or feature) phones. Such devices can host these browsers because they have advanced application processors, expanded memory capacity and adequate screen size and resolution. These full Internet browsers typically require about 64 Mb of memory to run. A real key to the growth of full Internet browsers in higher-end feature phones is the falling cost of sophisticated applications processors. But there is also a second path.”

The research has indicated that the installed base of full Internet browsers will exceed that of proxy-based browsers by the year 2012.

The drivers and barriers for the mobile browser market are identified by ABI Research’s “Mobile Browsers” study (http://www.abiresearch.com/research/1003386). The study highlights the details on the evolvement of mobile browsers and their positioning in terms of devices, markets and capabilities. The study also outlines the competition and breaks down the market strategies of key players.

In the release, Beccue further stated, “Parallel to this development, a new family of browsers has emerged: the proxy-based (or client-server or compression) browser, which is epitomized by the Opera Mini. These browsers move some caching and processing off the phone to a nearby server, allowing the browser to run on lower-cost processors and requiring as little as 4 Mb of memory. That means these browsers can be used on even the lowest-cost phones.”

ABI Research is a research firm providing in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. It was established in 1990, and its offices are spread in North America, Europe and Asia. Through 28 research and advisory services, ABI Research’s worldwide teams of experts advise thousands of decision makers.

For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com