The Barack Obama Campaign generated significant buzz this weekend by announcing Senator Obama’s Vice Presidential selection via SMS text-message. Nielsen estimates that 2.9 million U.S. mobile subscribers received a text message from the Obama campaign over the weekend.
The Vice Presidential message (sent in the late hours of Friday night) is, by many accounts, the single largest mobile marketing event ever in the U.S.
“From a mobile perspective, it makes sense that the campaign chose to use text-messages,” Nic Covey, Director of Insights, Nielsen Mobile, noted. “Today, 116 million U.S. mobile subscribers (52 …

According to Forbes, men and women use their mobile phones very differently.
Forbes’ story cited data from Nielsen Mobile showing that men are more likely to surf the mobile Web and watch mobile TV, while women take more photos, send more text and multimedia messages, and download more ringtones than men. 
The story also noted that women, who see their phones as extension of their personalities, are more likely to personalize their phones, while men treat their phones as a tool for keeping up with news and work email.
Learn more about mobile usage …

Mobile phones are more likely than ever to pop up on back-to-school shopping lists this year, The Tampa Tribune reported Saturday.
With cellular phone companies targeting more of their advertising at younger children, and parents worried about children’s safety and ability to communicate in an emergency, the upsurge in mobile phones for younger children is no surprise, the Tribune noted.
On average, each phone adds $28 to a family’s monthly cellular bill, the Tribune reported, citing data from Nielsen Mobile.
Nielsen research also suggests that children are more receptive to advertising delivered via …

Media Week (UK) recently put that question to a panel of four industry experts, including Kent Ferguson of Nielsen Mobile.
Ferguson argued that four essential components needed to take mobile advertising mainstream — advanced consumer devices, high-speed networks, reasonable data packages, and compelling content — are now in place, paving the way for growth. 
“In the UK, about 10 million people have recalled seeing a mobile ad; in the US, that number is almost 60 million,” Ferguson told Media Week.  “As more countries lay down the groundwork for an effective mobile advertising …

Nearly 45% of U.S. and 31% of UK mobile video users will join the mobile audience for the 2008 Olympic Games, Nielsen Mobile reported Thursday. 
Nielsen’s data shows that U.S. and UK consumers are especially likely to view high-profile, short events, such as Track and Field and Gymnastics, on their mobile phones.  
The mobile Internet will also play a critical role in mobile Olympics viewing, with 23% of U.S. and 17% of UK mobile Internet users planning to track the Games through their phone browsers, according to Nielsen.
“Mobile media will change the …

With Apple’s new iPhone 3G scheduled to go on sale worldwide this Friday, Nielsen Mobile released penetration, demographics, and usage data for the current iPhone:
How many iPhones are already out there?
-Nielsen Mobile estimates that there are 2.3 million U.S. mobile subscribers using an iPhone
-The iPhone accounts for 1% of all embedded mobile phone users in the U.S.

Who is using the iPhone already?

-Two-thirds (67%) of U.S. iPhone users are male (compared to 48% of all mobile subscribers)
-55% of iPhone owners are under the age of 35 (compared to 34% of all …