Nielsen Online announced in their Q1 2009 Canadian Mobile Internet Report that mobile internet adoption in Canada is reaching critical mass, with 21 per cent of mobile consumers using their mobile phones to browse the web and access their e-mail accounts.

Nielsen is the first third party audience measurement company to release findings specific to the Canadian mobile market. The Canadian market is experiencing similar trends that are driving mobile internet growth in other markets – smartphone adoption, unlimited data plans and consumer advertising campaigns that drive awareness of mobile phone capabilities.

The report shows adoption in categories and sites that consumers are familiar with and leverage the immediacy of the mobile platform – portals, e-mail, weather, news and social networking are all categories that drive early adoption for mobile internet usage.

“The mobile market in Canada has grown rapidly since we first reported on the data in Q4 2008,” said Eric Puterbaugh, director, client services, Nielsen Online. “Every country has unique needs for mobile audience measurement driven by carriers, handset availability and media brands focused on their market. While we see many global media properties on the list of sites, Canadian media brands are actively extending their reach into the mobile channel.”

Highlights of the report include:

• Mobile internet penetration increased from 16 per cent in Q4 2008 to 21.3 per cent in Q1 2009

• There are 3.9 million unique mobile internet users in Canada

• Top categories accessed via the mobile web include: portals, e-mail, weather, news and current event and search

• Top mobile phone models in Canada are Apple iPhone 3G, BlackBerry 8100, LG Rumor Series, Motorola Razr V3 and Motorola KRZ R Series

• Windows Live Mail was the number one website accessed on a mobile phone in Q1 2009, with 1.4 million unique visitors. Google Search, Facebook, The Weather Network and Yahoo! Mail rounded out the top five