Mobile internet use by business professionals on the rise

Internet usage via mobile phone is likely to exceed 50 percent in the first quarter of 2010, compared with 20 percent during the same period in 2008 for business Internet users in the Middle East, according to Dubai-based market research company Real Opinions.

“The sheer convenience of the mobile Internet is expected to power uptake with instant access to emails and social networking websites being particularly popular,” explained Dan Healy, CEO of Real Opinions, in an emailed statement. “Twitter is a great example of fusing the Internet with mobile devices and we expect more sophisticated application to be developed like this as attention turns to mobile.”

Consequently, the market research company has launched a mobile survey product that allows people to answer questions using their mobile phone.

“This is ideal for clients who want instant feedback when respondents are at a particular location or moment in time and access to these real-time results,” Healy said.