Mobile-enabled services are rapidly changing the way travellers purchase travel, according to Abacus International. Booking transactions in Asia finished at a record high in 2010, up +11% over the previous year, with a sharp increase in both smartphone usage (54% penetration by 2015) as well as mobile Internet (450 million subscribers in Asia Pacific).
Asia Pacific has the largest number of mobile subscribers in the world with over 2.1 billion phone subscriptions in 2010, coupled with a forecasted growth of +50% by 2020.
Mobile internet services are also expected to generate US$80 billion in Asia Pacific, with smartphone penetration at 40% across Southeast Asia in Q4 2009, led by Singapore at 77%.
With the proliferation of mobile e-mail and mobile browsing, the growth of multimedia messaging, mobile music, social networking, and even location-based services, mobile is “the next wave for travel-related services”, the company underlined.
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