Mobile internet searches growing fast

A survey conducted by ABI Research claims that 70 per cent of consumers used their mobile phones to search for something on the internet last year.

That's an increase of 14 percentage points from 2007, indicating the speed at which mobile internet usage is growing.

According to mocoNews, the survey also shows more people downloading content - including games, music and videos - in 2008 than did in 2007.

The growth in mobile search certainly has implications for mobile games companies, particularly those who are well-advanced in their D2C strategies.

Publishers were shy of pushing sales through their own WAP sites for many years, mainly through concerns that it would harm their relationships with operators.

However, if more mobile users are searching for games using Google and other search engines, it seems like those publisher WAP sites could be due a renewed push in 2009.