Western European Mobile Forecast, 2009 To 2014

As mobile phones are now ubiquitous across Western Europe, the industry's attention has turned to the mobile Internet arena. Despite the recession, mobile Internet adoption will continue to grow significantly, with audiences tripling from 13% of Western European mobile users in 2008 to 39% in 2014. The current economic climate will lengthen handset renewal cycles, foster the development of low-cost offerings, and boost the uptake of SIM-only contracts. However, it will only slightly reduce the pace of growth for those elements that stimulate mobile Internet usage: 3.5G and Internet-centric mobile phones as well as all-you-can-eat data plans will be widely available in the next five years. In the next decade, the mobile Internet will replicate the success story of the PC-based Internet. As Europe is one of the most diverse and saturated mobile landscapes in the world, the challenge will be to adapt to local conditions to increase the usage of new services. Forrester recommends that consumer product strategists carefully analyze the differences across Europe and take a detailed look at each national situation when defining their strategies.