US Will Lag in Tech Growth, Study Says

Watching television, gaining access to the Internet and listening to music on mobile phones will be a viable business in the next few years, says a study by a consulting arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers. But while marketers and advertisers have much to cheer in the coming digital revolution, the fastest growth will be in emerging markets, with the United States lagging behind. Overall global consumer spending both online and by mobile phones is expected to grow 21.8 percent annually, to $234 billion by 2012, according to the study which Pricewaterhouse expects to release Wednesday. By contrast, spending in the United States will grow at a rate of 16.1 percent, to $75 billion. The firm said there was more opportunity for Internet and mobile entertainment growth in countries like India and China because people there would use phones as a primary source of entertainment. Worldwide mobile television subscriptions are expected to grow fivefold to $19 billion, by 2012 compared with $408 million last year, Pricewaterhouse said. The United States is expected to make up $2.1 billion of that 2012 figure. And Pricewaterhouse expects that the online and mobile music distribution will surpass physical distribution by 2011, although music downloaded over the Internet is expected to grow at a greater percentage than music delivered over mobile phones.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/technology/18mobile.html?ref=todayspaper
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