Apple's The Big Winner (So Far) In Mobile Internet Computing: Report

The massive 424-page report, called The Mobile Internet Report, also says that the pace of mobile Internet computing is being set by such companies as Apple, Google, Amazon.com and Facebook, rather than Microsoft, Intel and other companies that benefited from the heyday of desktop computing during the last three decades.

The report also predicts that shipments of smartphones will outpace sales of notebooks and netbooks combined in 2010 and outsell all notebook, netbook and desktop PCs by 2012.

The report identifies five key trends that are driving the rapid growth of mobile Internet usage: adoption of 3G broadband technology, the popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, VoIP services like Skype, online video and what the report calls "impressive mobile devices."

The report also identifies Apple as a driving force " and an early winner " in mobile Internet development with its successful iPhone and iTouch products.

"The Apple ecosystem is changing how consumers use their devices " spending far more time on data than voice, and well above the ordinary user's content/data consumption," the report said. While this has implications for the telecommunications industry, "the dislocations the iPhone (and iTouch) sets off will likely not stop there. Retail, travel, entertainment, news: Developers have every incentive to extend the mobile Internet into new industries."

Altogether Apple has a lead of two to three years on its competitors, the report said. But the report also said Apple faces long-term growth challenges from Google's Android and other "open mobile Web" technologies.