Adoption of internet browsing on cell phones is expected to climb from 16% at the end of 2007 to 19% at the end of 2008. These findings are outlined in a report published by JupiterResearch, “Mobile Internet: Adding Portable Media Players to the Mix to Drive Up Audience Size and Revenue.” The study was completed in cooperation with mobile advertising service provider AdMob.

According to the report, the majority of page views and advertising impressions on cell phones and portable media players are on a small screen with a mini-browser. Impressions and click-through rates (CTR) per device, however, are higher for devices with full browsers.

"Mobility is adding a time and space dimension to media and advertising that has the potential to drive up CPM’s significantly. We are finding ads with location tags are selling at five to tenfold premiums over basic ads," said Julie Ask, Vice President at JupiterResearch and lead author of the report. "The ability to tag users with location, demographics, and behavioral data complemented by devices that support rich media to avoid having their role in the advertising value chain made obsolete must continued to push forward.”

In order to be truly successful, mobile carriers must continue to enable access with affordable portable media players and innovative business models while protecting their stake in the value chain by adding information layers to user profiles.

"New devices such as portable media players available on the market with dramatically improved user interfaces and capable of fully rendering HTML web sites are driving consumer demand for Internet access on portable devices," said David Schatsky, President of JupiterResearch. "Carriers should continue to enable consumers by rolling out more devices that look like portable media players at affordable prices – perhaps even as a second device – and continue to break down economic barriers of pricing and application restrictions to consumer adoption.”