NEW YORK, NY — Forty million U.S. cellular phone subscribers (or 15.6-percent of the total) actively use the mobile internet, making the U.S. a leader in mobile internet adoption, according to a report from The Nielsen Company. Among the 16 countries tracked, the U.S. leads in penetration, followed by the UK (12.9-percent) and Italy (11.9-percent).The analysis was performed by Nielsen Mobile, a service of The Nielsen Company.

The report, “Critical Mass: The Worldwide State of the Mobile Web,” also noted that the U.S. mobile internet market has reached critical mass for mobile Internet marketing
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“We’re frequently asked whether the mobile Internet marketing opportunity will be realized in 2008 or 2009,” said Nic Covey, director of insights at Nielsen Mobile and author of the report. “We believe the audience, inventory and planning tools are in place to make mobile Internet marketing an important part of the media consideration set today.”

Among other findings: Motorola’s RAZR phones are the most popular among U.S. mobile internet users, while Nokia handsets lead the market in Europe and Asia and unlimited data packages are increasing in popularity with mobile internet users. Today 14-percent of U.S. subscribers access the mobile Internet with an unlimited data package, and 50-percent of data users say they prefer the unlimited-pricing model.

Covey also noted in the report that 3G networks drive user satisfaction with the mobile internet, and these networks improve data throughput speeds as much as six times compared with 2 and 2.5G networks.

In addition, advertising is becoming a common part of the mobile internet experience. Today 26-percent of mobile internet users view ads while using the mobile surfing. Mobile internet users are more receptive to mobile advertising than average data users, Covey noted in the report.

“With highly capable devices, improving network speeds and millions of mobile users visiting individual websites over their phones, we believe mobile internet reached a critical mass for marketing this year,” he said. “A confluence of factors will only further ignite this market, rapidly, this year and into 2009.”

The report also identified the top 10 U.S. mobile websites as of May. Yahoo Mail, with 14 million unique monthly visitors, led the channel. Google search was in second place with 9.1 million unique users, followed by the Weather Channel with 8.6 million users, MSN’s Hotmail service with 7.9 million, Gmail with 7.5 million, ESPN with 6.5 million and Google Maps with 6.2 million. CNN brought up the rear with 4 million unique users.