We've got new research for sale over at Ypulse Research from Mobile Behavior's Next Great Thing, an Omnicom Group company. Our friend Allison Mooney, who is the director of trends & insights, has written a Ypulse Guest Post to share some of the highlights. You can now purchase the report from Ypulse Research. For readers new to Ypulse, Ypulse Research resells white papers and reports about tweens, teens and early twentysomethings from our partners in the youth research space. We will be producing our own quarterly series of interview-based white papers beginning this winter.

Highlights from Mobile Behavior's NGT Global Youth Survey

NGT's Global Youth Survey was designed for a selfish reason: We were curious. We simply wanted to hear the opinions of young people on topics that interested us. So with the help of our international network of offices, we assembled panels of teens and twenty-somethings in seven countries (Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the US). Our survey quizzed them on entertainment choices, communications preferences, social media habits, cultural influences, noteworthy fads, and thoughts on advertising. In our report, which we've now chosen to offer publicly, we boiled down everyone's answers and teased out the resounding trends and themes. Here are a few:

Network Effects

Most respondents choose the social networks they use based upon what is popular among their friends and peers. "I originally chose Facebook because a lot of my friends were already members. I like it because it is very easy and enjoyable to use. It's like a free version of FriendsUnited," says one 23-year-old respondent from the UK. While it seems MySpace is falling out of favor, a couple other British 20-somethings preferred it for its customization options. "I like using MySpace because it allows you to be more creative with your profile and it’s more sociable," said one.

Online communities and social networks are a forum for creating and sharing content, and it seems that the older a person is, the more likely he or she is to contribute. Most of these communities were focused on celebrities, gaming, church and school groups. Communicating with like minds online, whether they are friends or strangers, is one of the main drivers of social networking. As one respondent from Malaysia pointed out, “My communities should have similar interests, if not, it will be duck and chicken talk." So true.

My Cell, Myself

Young people all over the world are leapfrogging over the PC straight to the mobile phone as their "first screen" for entertainment, communications, news, and social interaction. Global mobile usage is growing so rapidly it is outpacing both TV and Web consumption. For tweens, teens and 20-somethings, the "Connected Class," the phone is becoming an extension of themselves, a part of their identity. 68% of our survey respondents say that their mobile device is their most essential personal device (followed by Laptop/PC at 40%).

The predominant use of the mobile phone was text messaging–-an easy, discrete and often cheaper way to chat. 48% of survey respondents said that their most frequent use of their mobile is SMS/text messaging, compared to 40% who picked voice conversation. Though texting is growing popular in all regions, it was especially popular in Singapore.

Engaging Ads

TV commercials were the most popular form of advertising, though the experiential approach–giving free trials and samples–are equally as effective in Hong Kong. "The best kind of advertising would be giving free samples and television ads that use interesting and new ideas," says a 20-year-old female respondent. Limited editions are popular in places like South Korea and Hong Kong. "The most effective kind of ads would be supported by stars like Edison Chen and Juno. They release 'limited edition' items that lure youngsters to buy their merchandise," according to a South Korean teen. (Note: this was said prior to Chen's infamous sex scandal, which has soured him in the eyes of former fans.)

And the least appealing form of advertising? It seems that across all areas surveyed the least are flyers and online pop-up ads. "An ad shouldn't pop up and annoy you while you are trying to get something done online, it should intrigue you when you want to be intrigued," said a U.S. respondent. A well-stated argument in favor of effective targeting, which we see as the future of advertising.

About Allison Mooney
Allison Mooney is the director of trends & insights at Mobile Behavior's Next Great Thing, an Omnicom Group company. In addition to regularly contributing to NGT's blog, Allison has also written for publications like PSFK, Radar, and Glamour. She served on our last two Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup event advisory boards and most recently moderated our "Make Your Message Mobile" panel in Boston.

Lisa from China Youthology (a company that works on consumer insights for marketing, communication, and product design targeting the youth in China market) emailed to let me know about a series of blog posts they are planning that will focus on "the views of Chinese youth on the Olympic games, nation, and sports, their media behavior of watching the games, and their reaction to the great deal of Olympic related marketing and PR activities." They kicked off the series with an interesting background post focusing on fundamental changes in the beliefs and values of Chinese youth including: higher national pride and growing awareness of social responsibility. I found the dramatic role of the recent devastating earthquake in her background post particularly interesting as it related to higher national pride:

A new impression about government: since of time of Mao, perhaps China first time sees the affection of youth in their government leaders during the earthquake. 'Take good care of yourself, dear Grandpa Wen (Wen Jiabao, Premier)' gained extrodinary popularity on the online forums, facebook walls, etc.

And growing awareness of social responsibility:

Gaining awareness of the social responsibility of corporate: the success of the earthquake PR of Wang Laoji (a local ready-to-drink beverage, donated RMB 100 millions), youth's dissatisfaction with some giant international brands in their indifference in the China's big disaster…

Should be an interesting series of posts…

(Olympic volunteers; photo from Xinhua net)

Sorta related: ReadWriteWeb is examining the role of web tech/social media in the Olympics.

Allison Luong, Managing Director of Pearl Research, one of our new Ypulse Research partners, has written another guest post summarizing some of the highlights from their latest report, which can be purchased from Ypulse Research. If your company produces research and you're interested in selling it on our channel, please get in touch with Charles Pelton.

The Phoenix Generation: Insights Into Chinese Youth

I'm pleased to announce our new "The Phoenix Generation: Insights into Chinese Youth" a comprehensive lifestyle study focused on Chinese youth ages 16 to 30. The study covers Internet and technology product adoption and trends; lifestyle trends such as the growth of hip-hop, street basketball and the NBA. The study also provides exclusive consumer segmentation and an analysis of the Chinese middle-class.

Key findings include:

Popular Trends: Street basketball, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and hip-hop have grown in popularity as Chinese consumers embrace new cultural experiences. Pearl Research takes a deep dive into these segments with ethnographic research and how marketers have leveraged these trends to connect with Chinese consumers. Brands such as Nike, Adidas and Li Ning have benefited from this as Chinese youth aspire to look like their favorite sports stars.

Internet and Online Games Trends China has more than 210 million internet users making it the largest Internet population worldwide. However, Internet usage in China tends to differ as 100 million of theses users are under the age of 25, thus are more likely to seek out entertainment content. Based on Pearl Research's online survey, online gaming (60%) and chatting (65%) were cited as top reasons to go online. Approximately 51% of our sample enjoyed playing multiplayer online games (MMORPGs) while casual games were equally popular at 44%.

Pearl Research's survey includes data about monthly entertainment spend; mobile phone, MP3 and PC penetration; PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii hardware adoption and Internet café usage trends.

Consumer Segmentation Pearl Research has devised detailed consumer segmentation to understand the wide range of Chinese consumers. Urban incomes have reached $5,000 in first-tier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.

As incomes rise in China, "Chuppies" or Chinese Yuppies are an increasingly common sight. Many place their savings into purchasing homes, cars, and investing in stocks and bonds. They are at the forefront of China's burgeoning middle class and spending boom.

Unique Websites: Pearl Research has compiled a list of unique websites in China. These sites were selected based on their popularity and growth potential. We included Xiaonei.com, a social networking site; Sky-fire.com, a popular comic book site; and 17173.com, a gaming news and community site; as just some of the sites to watch.

In-depth interviews: In one of our interviews with Chinese consumers: T. Qin, a 22 year old female journalist, spends about 10 - 12 hours online per week, prefers to use Baidu, and shops online at Alibaba.com. Many Chinese consumers are becoming more open to the idea of shopping online for goods.

Allison Luong, Managing Director of Pearl Research, one of our new Ypulse Research partners, has written another guest post summarizing some of the highlights from their report The Phoenix Generation: China Youth Project - iPhone Purchase Intent. It feels pretty timely given all of the buzz over the new iPhone coming in July. Remember, you can now purchase this report on our new Research channel. If your company produces research and you're interested in selling it on our channel, please get in touch with Charles Pelton.

Will The iPhone Be Popular In China?

One of the things I love about my job at Pearl Research is the study of how products are accepted by different cultures and markets. In one of our latest syndicated studies involving Chinese consumers, Pearl Research wanted to understand the potential for Apple's iPhone in China. In addition to consumer interviews, we conducted store checks to understand the product's availability and demand.

The iPhone has not been officially released in China, but can be found on store shelves through gray imports. China could be a significant market for Apple with its 565 million mobile phone users and trend-conscious consumers. In fact, at 565 million, China has the largest number of mobile phone users in the world.

Some of our findings include:

- In our interviews, females were more likely to cite "trendiness" and "design" as a key factor in wanting to purchase an iPhone while males cited "utility" as the chief reason.

- The high price tag of $500 or more was the most mentioned reason for disinterest in purchasing an iPhone along with Apple's inexperience in mobile phones. The iPhone's high profile has spawned Chinese copycats that duplicate the iPhone's features at a fraction of the price, retailing for $200 to $300. Pearl Research believes the popularity of these copycat phones could cut into market share for the official iPhone.

- A key selling point for the iPhone is the ease through which users can intuitively surf the Internet on a touch-screen. This selling point of mobile Internet has less resonance in China. Through interviews with consumers, we found that most users do not use the mobile Internet extensively due to carriers' high costs for these services.

- Approximately 88% of iPod owners expressed interest in the iPhone. The iPod has created a consumer segment in China familiar with Apple products. Appealing to users beyond this core group of users remains a challenge for Apple, if it decides to release the iPhone in China.

Overall, Apple's iPhone already has piqued the interest of users in China with its unique design. However, Apple faces stiff competition from experienced mobile companies such as Nokia and Motorola, which are respected brands in China. The iPhone's high price point also narrows down its potential market to wealthy Chinese urbanites.

Note from Anastasia: We are also selling The Phoenix Generation: China Youth Project - Search Engine Preferences. Among the findings of "Baidu vs. Google" is that a strong entertainment search function is one of the key factors for the Chinese search engine Baidu's popularity over Google. More than 60% of the survey respondents listed music downloads as their main reason to go online.

Allison Luong and Jeff Yip, from one of our new Ypulse Research partners, Pearl Research, have written a guest post summarizing some of the highlights from their report. Remember, you can now purchase this report on our new Research channel. If your company produces research and you're interested in selling it on our channel, please get in touch with Charles Pelton.

Leveraging the Popularity of Gaming and Blogging with China's 107 Million Young Internet Users

China has 107 million Internet users under the age of 25, making it one of the largest youth-oriented digital media markets in the world. These young Internet users account for 51% of the 200 million overall Internet users in China, according to figures by CNNIC, a Chinese government agency.

Pearl Research believes companies need to develop a deep understanding of Chinese youth if they hope to tap into China's burgeoning domestic markets.

As a part of our ongoing analysis of Chinese youth, Pearl Research explores the social and consumer behaviors of this large market demographic.

Online Gaming

Approximately 74% of Chinese Internet users under the age of 18 played online games within the past six months, making gaming one of the top leisure activities. The year 2007 was a banner year for China's online games industry and 2008 is expected to be just as robust. China's online games market raked in an impressive $1.66 billion in 2007, up 60% according to Pearl Research's latest estimates.

What this means for companies is that gaming is an important industry to ally their products with. For example, Coca-Cola printed millions of Coke cans with the gaming characters from Blizzard's World of Warcraft, a popular online massively-multiplayer game.

Users who purchase these imprinted Coca-Cola cans could then redeem extra playing time for World of Warcraft. This promotion effectively cross-promoted both Coca-Cola and World of Warcraft and helped Coca-Cola create a relationship between it and the legion of dedicated World of Warcraft gamers. Gamers who purchase these Coke cans could enjoy their favorite beverage and at the same time save money on a popular game.

The game World of Warcraft generates more than $100 million annually in China, making it a bigger hit than most movies or music albums.

Blogging

Blogging is another activity that has grown in popularity in China. By the end of 2007, the number of blog writers reached 47 million compared to just 16 million in 2006. With an estimated one out of every 30 Chinese citizens writing on a blog service, Pearl Research believes companies must begin to formulate digital strategies focused on the needs of young blog users.

Approximately 47% of the written content on blogs contains inner monologues or records of personal feelings indicating blogs are a means of self-expression. Functions such as the upload/display of personal pictures, music and video were cited as being the most used by blog writers.

Mobile phone-maker Nokia is a company that has leveraged the popularity of blogging in China, promoting its products through various company-owned blogs. These blogs are written in a more informal manner and help update Chinese consumers on Nokia products, what applications are available and also contain photos from Nokia marketing activities.

Blogging and online gaming follow the same theme and that is of young Chinese Internet users choosing to focus on entertainment, sports, celebrities, food and tourism while surfing the Internet.

Pearl Research believes companies seeking to connect with Chinese youth should consider a targeted strategy focused on leveraging the popularity of both of these activities, as both Nokia and Coca-Cola have successfully accomplished.

Just got back from Istanbul last night. Jetlag would be an understatement. I traveled to Istanbul to speak at the first BEYOND Trend conference to share a perspective on wired U.S. teens. We stayed mostly around Istanbul for the week — a city that in many ways reminded me of San Francisco with its hills and proximity to "the sea." We visited the Princes Islands, ate lots of kebab and dolmas and checked out most of the big tourist sites including the Grand Bazaar where I was talked into buying a small carpet, a couple of scarves and of course, Turkish Delight. I also met Ozgur Alaz (in the photo), a Turkish marketing blogger who has been reading Ypulse for three years. He shared how he has been building his own consultancy focused on youth in Istanbul. On Wednesday, I spent the entire day at their beautiful conference site right on the Bosphorus listening to a host of international speakers talk about trends. I only took sporadic notes on a couple of speakers but will attempt to summarize below.

One of the speakers was Edith Keller from Carlin International — an international trend forecaster that has loads of clients and appears to specialize in design. Edith spoke in French so I relied on translation (my four years of French in middle and high school did not help). She spoke about what her company actually does to predict trends 3 to 5 years out. What I took away from this was that it's not just marketers but a team of creatives (with help from a historian, sociologist, and other experts) who basically predict what's next, package it in a beautiful book and sell this thinking to loads of brands. It makes you wonder if companies like Carlin, who have so many major brand clients, are actually predicting trends or creating them. She had beautiful Power Point though. Piers at PSFK launched a really interesting discussion a while back about trend forecasting with a post called "The Problem With The Trends (Business)" - worth a read.

The Turkish rep from Adidas spoke later that day. He focused on Adidas' core market (Gen X and Y) but also on how they are paying attention to the growing (global) aging population. Evidently most of Turkey's population is under the age of 25. He spoke about Gen X being defined through television as our medium of choice and Y being the Net. Apparently the desire for flexible office hours and more work/life balance is not limited to Gen Y in the U.S. He also talked about the lack of attention with so many channels and options specifically in sportswear where there are over 250K products introduced each year for whatever mood on whatever day — "it's their choice to be in touch with you." He mentioned Adidas efforts to be socially conscious by supporting a local campaign to prevent drunk driving and creating a smaller more eco-friendly line (still hard to create sustainable products in apparel, i.e. costly). He talked about the move towards intelligent products (wearable technology) like a chip in shoes that adjusts the shoe according to the pavement) as well as miCoach, a new partnership with Samsung that involves tailoring music to your jogging rhythms. He also mentioned the need to create products you can personalize, i.e. miAdidas (like Nike i.d.). Oh and Adidas is also going to launch a big marketing partnership with Vespa in 2009. Cool.

I made friends with another U.S. speaker, Harley Cross, the founder of HintMint — a very high end and packaged mint company that has done well with the Hollywood red carpet crowd and in high end hotels and galleries internationally. I love hearing other entrepreneurs' success stories.

My sense of what's different about Istanbul youth culture vs. in the U.S. is the role of family, community and tradition in their society (i.e. it plays an even larger role there than I believe it does here). While Istanbul is incredibly cosmopolitan and westernized, it is still a Muslim country (you are reminded of this when you see some teenage girls wearing colorful head scarves and hear the prayers from the Mosques echo across the city). I was curious to know how these traditional forces vs. the forces of more western individualism/consumerism are playing out within within families and between generations. My guess is that the former tempers the latter. If you were wondering about MySpace vs. Facebook, Özgür told me Turkey is more like Canada in that its tech savvy youth are on Facebook vs. MySpace (though MySpace is coming) and MSN Messenger vs. AIM or Yahoo!. I also sensed that there are lots of Turkish teens still logging on at internet cafes vs. a laptop at home, especially outside of the bigger cities. Either way, I think the portrait of wired U.S. teens I shared was not so different from that of teens in Istanbul. There was one Turkish teen in the audience, and when I asked if anyone had heard of Soulja Boy, he nodded his head immediately.

We all know there is a dark side to social networking — see this month's New York Magazine story about what the faculty discovered children of some of their wealthiest families were posting. But it doesn't get much darker than this:

A young Saudi Arabian woman was murdered by her father for chatting on the social network site Facebook, it has emerged.

The unnamed woman from Riyadh was beaten and shot after she was discovered in the middle of an online conversation with a man, the al-Arabiya website reported.

The case was reported on a Saudi Arabian news site as an example of the "strife" the social networking site is causing in the Islamic nation.

This is no April Foolery. Just a sad, WTF?

I talk a lot about teens as "intuitive users" a lot, i.e. using tech to meet their core developmental needs vs. teens as techies (understanding how stuff works, code, etc.) or being aware of privacy settings, etc. I stumbled across some research today on Canadian teens I think supports this notion. It also shows that, at least in Canada, teens aren't spending as much time online as we think. From the Media In Canada article:

"What's surprising about our research is the extent to which it challenges conventional assumptions adults make about the technological sophistication of teenagers," says Steve Mossop, president of Market Research for Ipsos Reid in Western Canada. "The reality is they spend far less time online than adults with a very limited number of activities - like socializing, gaming and music - and their attitudes are surprisingly unsophisticated in terms of their lack of comfort with the technology, concerns about security and privacy, and importance of the Internet in their daily lives."

More than a quarter (28%) of online teens consider themselves to be very skilled or expert. Another quarter (24%) admit to not being skilled in navigating the net, while the remaining teens pegged themselves as fairly skilled. And while adults are going to a multitude of different websites for a variety of online activities, teens are focused mainly on websites that allow them to socialize, download music or play games.

In fact, online socializing is by far the overwhelming reason teens surf the net. The majority of kids surveyed (88%) have participated in an online social activity (compared to 70% of adults), and more than half (59%) visit online social networks or communities daily or a few times per week.

Instead of writing one massive Essentials post, I figured I would start with what's in my email and then do a separate post of links I have gathered. After today, I will have officially "dug out" from being gone. First up Ypulse reader Ashley sent this link to a post about whether TV for tots under 2 is a bad thing — the gist is that a few educational DVDs won't ruin your child. It's written by Mallory Lewis, the daughter of the children’s entertainer, Shari Lewis (and Lamb Chop - does anyone else find it disturbing that the cute puppet is named for the food he will become? It's like calling a pig, "Bacon").

The Campaign For A Commercial Free Childhood sent an email about their latest target, Webkinz, for running outside advertising on its site. Izzy Neis explores this on her blog. Sites like Nick.com have advertising, too. I'm not sure where you draw the line on this, which kids' sites should or shouldn't run ads for movies, etc.

Ypulse reader and regular tipster Bob reminded me that yesterday blogs became tweens - or turned 10. Ypulse is still a toddler (will be 4 in May!), but it's an opportunity for those of us who do it to reflect on how we got started. I attribute my original blogging inspiration to one Robert Duffy, my Netscape carpool buddy back in 2000. He launched his music blog Donewaiting.com when we were working together in Columbus, OH, for AOL Web Properties. When I was thinking about how to start Ypulse, I thought of him, and decided it was a no-brainer. Thanks Duffy!

danah boyd forwarded this satirical video called Web Site Story spoofing the whole "To Catch A Predator" thing…it's both sort of funny and sort of offensive.

I received an email alert that Pew published its latest research on privacy revealing that most adults don't really seem to care about what they share online. According to the survey, "fully 60% of internet users say they are not worried about how much information is available about them online. Similarly, the majority of online adults (61%) do not feel compelled to limit the amount of information that can be found about them online." It's kind of interesting when you think about how freaked out they are about how much information teens are posting.

On a related note, Ypulse reader John wrote, "I was recently at a gathering of bloggers and online community people, and I found that everything they had to say rang totally true for me and my values except that none of them thought there was, or should be, any real right of privacy nor were they much concerned about it. They didn't see it as a problem at all. These 3 European guys attending were shocked. One of them said, 'do you have to go through what we went through in Europe in the 1930's and 40's to see why it matters?'"

From across the pond, the folks at UK teen mag Sugar informed me that they launched their social media effort called Sugarscape. From their email: "The site will allow teen girls to share and comment on webpages from around the web with their friends and other Sugarscape.com users. In addition to this, the site will also provide users with typical social networking tools such as profile pages, friends lists and public/private messaging."

Finally, Ypulse reader Melissa wrote to let folks know that the very cool non-profit org L.A. Youth is holding an event Tuesday, January 29th, 8:30 am-10am at their offices. Here's the description:

Interactive dialogue to focus on 20 year retrospective of "best of" articles, highlighting trends in youth-driven content as well as First Amendment challenges. Teens will also share concerns about issues confronting them in today's world. The dialogue will be moderated by L. A. Times Columnist Kurt Streeter. To RSVP, email Melissa.

Our latest guest post is from our friends Alan Rambam and Allison Mooney at Next Great Thing, the insights arm of Fleishman-Hillard's Youth and Mobile Marketing Group. I mentioned mobile (in the US) was finally moving beyond voice and data in the Ypulse [Y]ear in Review post last week, but Alan and Allison offer a detailed glimpse of what's next by looking to Asian youth who have always been on the cutting edge when it comes to mobile adoption. Remember, you can participate in the Ypulse Guest Post program by emailing me your idea, and a bit about your youth media or marketing background. You don't have to be a marketer to post! Ypulse welcomes posts from content producers, educators and non-profit professionals, too!

Looking to Asian Youth for 2008 Mobile Trends

Coolhunters have always looked to Asia for what's hot. Not just because youth in Tokyo, Shanghai and Seoul are super-trendy, but when it comes to technology, these cities are far more enabled than we are. This is especially true when it comes to wireless technology.

Mobile is the new ultimate global youth convergence platform. Asian youth represent a fifth of the earth's population and many of them are leapfrogging past the Internet directly to mobile. The wireless handset is their "first screen," and it's merging with the Internet into one seamless communications medium. At NGT we've been tracking Asian Youth trends for years, and we will continue to look to them as a trend beacon for mobile in 2008. Here are a few key areas that we'll be watching:

Social networking sites (SNS) are as hot in Asia as they are in the States, if not more so.

Social networks are only successful if they capture the unique cultural nuances of the cities where they originate. This is extremely important in Asia where privacy is a big concern, and there is a high level of comfort with written communications over spoken word or face-to-face interactions.

SNS sites enable youth to stay connected to their ever-expanding networks of friends. It is only natural that they will be enabled on the handset — a personal "always-on" communications device. We are just getting started in the U.S. with the mobile version of sites like MySpace and Facebook, which are getting increasingly easier to access and interface with inside the mobile ecosystem. However, these early applications have a long way to go in terms of connectivity and location-centric access that is a must for all brands, large and small.

In Japan, Mixi, the most popular SNS, hit over 100 million page views in one day last January. Softbank put links in its Yahoo! mobile portal to Mixi Mobile and others including MySpace Mobile and Gree. The mobile version of Gree, EZ GREE, surpassed 1 million members in October, and parent company KDDI plans to integrate more carrier- led mobile data offerings, notably location-based services, going forward.

Speaking of LBS, since Asia has much better GPS penetration, it's become the launching pad for this exciting technology. Take mincle, a mobile social mapping service that pinpoints and shares a user's favorite locations with others in real time. Viacom also decided to test the waters with its ad-supported mobile SNS, myMTV in Asia.

As social networks are melding with virtual worlds and games — a trend that started in Asia — avatar-based SNS are likewise moving onto the handset. Softbank Mobile's S! Town, launched last November, was the first 3D world for cell phones. Mobagetown and Chipuya Town are the hot properties right now. These Japanese social networks are centered on casual mobile gaming. Members earn currency to pimp their avatars by watching ads, interacting, and signing up friends. Mobagetown hit 4 million users this past March. As Chipuya Town's virtual world mimics the real one, offline purchasing is probably not far down the road for this and many other SNS/Avatar based services in Asia.

In this vein, there is a huge opportunity for mobile to extend into real-life interactions and purchases. Driving this are Bar Codes, also known as Kool Tags (Singapore), Quick Response (QR) codes (Japan) and Semacodes (US and Europe). These codes contain information such as URLs that can be decoded using software on a camera phone. QR codes are very popular in Japan, often appearing in magazines, on signs, buses, even business cards. By allowing users to send out invitations via QR codes, Mixi Mobile was able to reach that impressive 100 million mark. We've had barcode technology for awhile in the US, but it's not widely used. However, today's new advanced and GPS-enabled handsets are stimulating demand for improvements in mobile advertising and media personalization.

NTT Docomo really made the "mobile wallet" a reality with its i-mode mobile payment system. The carrier collects user payments for vendors, and the money is automatically deducted from consumer's monthly bills. As one of our NGT correspondents in Tokyo told us, this method is incredibly popular among Japanese women. In fact, it can often be cheaper to buy products via mobile (not to mention easier!) We have heard some rumblings from a few carriers and brands that they are planning some very targeted carrier-enabled mobile purchasing pilots in the US in 2008. So, maybe next year you will be able to all of your Christmas shopping on the way to mom's house.

It's no wonder young people in Asia spend twice as much time on the mobile Internet as they do consuming traditional media. Not only can you shop, but you have that web wonder, the widget. These RSS-powered "tiles" will become the entry point to the mobile web with the iPhone, Yahoo! Go and startups like Zumobi leading the way. The next use of RSS is already manifesting itself in Asia with ticker tape news. These CNN-like feeds let you read the news in real time as it scrolls across the bottom of your phone. NTT DoCoMo was first to launch this subscription service on its portal. 18 months after launch, NTT DoCoMo reports that it has already 8 million paying subscribers to the service (16% of all subscribers). And you thought the iPhone was cool…

2008 will be a big year for mobile in the US as the proliferation of 3G handsets will bring about a host of new mobile applications and functionality. It is still going to be a slow adoption process here, but the move towards open platforms (Google's Android, Verizon, Nokia) will help to spur a sea change. In the meantime, we can peak into the future across the Ocean and look forward to the coming years.

Alan is Senior Vice President, Senior Partner, NGT and Allison is Director of Trends & Research, NGT.