Everybody secretly likes to have a bit of a snoop, especially if there is not a chance in hell of being caught. Snooping gives us that little rush of excitement that you simply can’t get anywhere else and with the proliferation of mobiles all over the globe, snooping is now easier then ever!

A recent Australian survey of around 500 mobile users, aged 18-29, recently uncovered that 1 in 3 mobile phone users are officially ‘SMS Snoops’, the consequences of which can be devastating if the other person actually finds out. The survey was conducted by Virgin Mobile Australia and also shows that women are more likely then men to take a peek at their partner’s messages without their knowledge.

Surprisingly, 73 per cent of the ‘Snoopers’ admitted that they had found out things they wish they hadn’t. Further more, 10 per cent of these people actually had to end their relationship, all because of a little SMS.

“In a society when we very rarely let our mobile phones out of our sight, it’s quite amazing to think that for a lot of us the minute we jump in the shower, someone might be checking up on us,” Virgin Mobile’s Amber Morris said in a statement.

Over things discovered by the survey include:

• 60 per cent rush to grab their partner’s phone as soon as they hit the showers
• 41 per cent do it openly, while their partner is in the same room
• 45 per cent admitted to finding flirtatious and sexual texts, ranging from innocent to XXX

Quick, I better find my phone…

A forecast issued this week by media research firm Nielsen Mobile suggests that mobile subscriber interest in the Olympics is strong after all.

• In the U.S. 44.7 per cent of mobile video users and 22.6 per cent of of mobile web users will turn to their trusty mobile phones to get Olympics highlights and updates
• In the U.K. 31.3 per cent of mobile video users and only 17.2 per cent of mobile web users will turn to their mobiles for highlights and updates
• In the U.S. 66.3 per cent of mobile users cite Olympics event results as the most desirable information, while medal counts account for 44.3 per cent and TV schedules at 43.7 per cent
• In the U.K. 73.5 per cent of respondents want event results, while 37.4 per cent want to read informative articles based on the Olympics and 34.2 per cent desire medal counts
• In the U.S. 61.7 per cent of mobile video users want to watch gymnastics highlights, while 58.5 per cent want swimming/diving highlights and 54.4 per cent want track and field clips
• In the U.K. 89.9 per cent want track and field highlights, while 59.1 per cent want boxing clips and only 53.7 per cent want gymnastics

The Electronic Arts mobile unit (EA Mobile) has managed to rake in $44 million during their fiscal 1st quarter, which is up 33 per cent from last year. This realistically means EA Mobile now accounts for 5.47 per cent of total EA revenue, which came to an impressive $804 million for their 1st quarter.

EA has already announced that they will release a further eight blockbuster mobile games over the next three months. Which is a sign that EA are deadly serious when it comes to dominating the mobile gaming landscape.

Yes, you read the title correctly. China Mobile has just surpassed over 600 million subscribers.

Let’s put this into perspective. The Australian population is close to 20.5 million people. That means China Mobile’s number of subscribers is almost 30 times the entire Australian population. In April 2007, China Mobile proudly announced to the world that they had more subscribers then the United States of America. Now, only 15 months later, they have close to doubled that figure.

China Mobile claims to have added a cool 53.5 million new users from Jan to June 2008. These figures are just mind blowing when you consider that it won’t be long till China Mobile announce they have toppled the 1 billion mark. Next stop for China Mobile? Take over the world…

Eat your heart out Telstra!

Samsung Electronics has just reported US$2.12 billion in earnings, for the quarter, on sales of US$18 billion. Although not all of this is a result of mobile phone sales. The electronics giant is the world’s largest manufacturer of memory chips, flat screen televisions, and LCD displays.

Samsung claims they sold a whopping 45.7 million handsets in Q2, which is a highly impressive increase of around 22% when compared to 2007. However, this still represents a decrease considering they sold 46.3 million in Q1 2008. Overall these figures put Samsung’s total mobile market share at 15%, thus placing them in 2nd place, behind market leaders Nokia (who still hold the title with 40% market share) and ahead of LG (9.1% share).

Just wait until the Instinct takes over…

A survey of 600 “Gen Y” Australian mobile phone users by marketing agency Fresh has revealed that almost half use their phone to surf the net at least once a week.

Users aged 10-14 preferred downloading ringtones and mobile content. Users aged 15-17 and 24-28 spent most of their time checking out sports results and news headlines. Users aged 18-20 were heavily into social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, while those aged 21-24 looked to MSN chat and mobile email to pass the time.

Vodafone Australia’s cheaper plans have attracted over 70,000 mobile customers in June 2008. This huge figure brings their total to around 4.1 million users. Revenue rose again by 6.3 per cent and the overall customer base actually grew by a staggering 10.6 per cent in the three months leading up to June. Vodafone are also just about to reach 1 million 3G connected devices. It seems 2008 is the year for Vodafone Australia!

“Vodafone Australia’s business is booming in all states and territories because we’re injecting real value at a time when customers are looking for improved services at reasonable rates,” Chief Executive Russell Hewitt announced yesterday.

“Mobile voice and SMS continues unabated growth but mobile data services have become our most promising growth engine,” Mr Hewitt continued.

LG have just slotted into the number three position among the world’s top five handset makers, overtaking a slow moving Motorola. As a result, Sony Ericcson have been pushed pack to fifth place.

LG managed to move over 27.7 million handsets in the past quarter, with a third of them sold in North America. Touchscreen sales for LG totalled 7 million, including the top seller Viewty, which sold 2 million alone.

In a recent survey conducted by RBC Capital Markets, over 3,600 American participants were asked what type of smartphone they were interested in buying in the next three months. The results are as follows:

• Apple iPhone - 56%
• Blackberry - 23%
• Palm - 3%
• Other - 18%

Apple lovers cited better connectivity and prices as the main factors in their increased attraction to the brand. With such anticipation, RBC expert analyst Mike Abramsky is forecasting a massive boom in iPhone sales with a year-on-year growth of over 100 per cent.

New research shows that Australians are rushing to the stores in droves to buy new mobile phones, despite 80 per cent of the population over the age of 12 already having one in their pocket. It seems all the carriers are hoping the lure of cool features like GPS navigation, faster Internet access, instant chat and multiplayer mobile games will keep the momentum going for years to come.

While the stats might show a vast increase in the number of handsets, it appears that despite the growing number of features, the average Australian is still using their mobile for basic calls and text messages. For the first time in Australian history  the number of phones shipped has tipped the 10 million mark. In May phone vendors ordered 797,430 handsets, which is up 7.5 per cent from last year.

The CommSec Chief Equities Economist, Craig James, has been quoted saying “The sales figures show no signs of slowing. Australians love tech goods like mobile phones, computers and iPods and the record-breaking run of mobile phone sales is confirmation of that fact.”