Voting by Mobile Devices Could Be Available in United States by 2012, VeriSign Says

2. Mobile messaging will continue to penetrate the enterprise

In 2009, there will be over 1.5 billion standard and premium Application-to-Person (A2P) messages delivered per month in the United States, almost double the number of what we saw in 2008. Financial institutions, one of the key verticals included in A2P messaging, will continue to realize the value of the mobile channel. As they look to compete in a tough economic environment, they will look towards the ubiquity and reach of SMS to offer mobile banking to all their customers. Of the top 20 U.S. banks, 75 percent will have launched SMS mobile banking in 2009. Also, the growing need for mobile payments and transactions will push financial institutions to offer a richer experience to their mobile-savvy users. Based on VeriSign's research and customer feedback, more than 25 percent of Tier 1 financial institutions will offer SMS-based notifications for payments and remittances in 2010.

3. Mobile location-based services (LBS) will grow to 20 percent adoption in 2011

According to industry research, LBS adoption currently stands at 7 percent. In the past 12 months, all major U.S. carriers launched on-deck, user initiated "pull" LBS services, such as navigation or search. Over the next 12-24 months, as the parties involved in this ecosystem work together to resolve issues such as consumer privacy, spam protection and service monetization, we will see an increase in both innovative new applications and consumer adoption. Carriers will launch new on- and off-deck LBS services that "push" relevant information to end-users, based on their location and preferences. These services will spur new messaging opportunities in a client-less environment (WAP, SMS and MMS) for push-based applications, such as mobile advertisement/coupon/promotion services, which are better targeted based on a consumer's location and their inclination to purchase at that moment.

4. Mobile social networking presents growth opportunities for carriers and destinations