BOSTON -- Yankee Group today announced the launch of the Global Wireless/Mobile Premium Forecast, a 5-year projection and analysis tool that examines prospective data across business and consumer wireless segments for key categories such as users by technology, average revenue per user for mobile voice and data services, subscribers by data category and handset sales by technology.

Decisive data in the forecast includes:

As an added service to Yankee Group clients, the Premium Forecast incorporates the concept of unique users to accommodate the proliferation of individuals with more than one cellular line or wireless device, providing market players greater intelligence for measuring and targeting their customer segments.

"As competition intensifies, players in the wireless market need ever more granular data to truly size and predict opportunity growth," said Erica Fox, Yankee Group, director, Global Telecom and Wireless Services. "The Global Wireless/Mobile Premium Forecast provides the insight and focus companies need to make the crucial decisions that will determine their success in targeted markets."

Drawing from results gleaned from 23 nations in the North American, Latin American, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions, the forecast leverages data from both the Yankee Group Mobile User Survey and Video Capable Device Survey. The forecast incorporates critical metrics, such as customer segmentation, usage, and applications, such as text messaging, e-mail, IM, ringtones and gaming. Among its findings, Yankee Group revealed that global mobile/wireless service penetration of unique users will reach 36% by 2009. This encompasses a wide spectrum, from Europe and North America at the high end with 80% and 77.5%, respectively, and Asia Pacific and Middle East/Africa at the low end, with 30% and 19.9% penetration, respectively.

Yankee Group Research Inc.