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TechRadar: Europe’s mobile phone users are still well behind people in Japan and the US when it comes to using their phones to connect to the internet, according to the latest data.

ComScore’s comparative date between the three regions found that a whopping 75 per cent of phones in Japan were used to access what it terms ‘connected media’ – namely web pages through a browser, applications that connect to a network or content that has been downloaded.

That was well in excess of the US, on 43.7 per cent and far ahead of the Europe region with 38.5 per cent.

Browser access

Nerarly 60 per cent of Japanese phone users accessed their phone’s browser in June, and 42.3 per cent an application compared to 25.8 per cent and 24.9 percent for Europe.

However, Europe does lead the way in text messaging – with 81.7 per cent of us sending an SMS compared to 66.8 per cent in the US and 40.1 per cent in Japan.

“Mobile media usage continues to accelerate across the globe, driven by advancing technologies and the growing number of content options available to consumers,” said Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile.

Dramatic differences

“As we look across markets, dramatic differences in mobile media consumption, brand adoption and user behavior become evident,” he added.

“These differences are even more pronounced than they are for PC-based Internet usage due to the complex nature of mobile – including various device capabilities, operating systems and methods of accessing content.”

Of course, looping in the whole of Europe presumably gives a less clear picture than it would for just the Western European nations – with the UK likely to report figures that are considerably higher than some of the less developed nations.

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HD News: Research published by the TV industry regulator OFCOM details how the UK has embraced the High Definition (HD) and digital revolution.

The UK leads the world with an impressive 86% of UK households now hosting digital TV’s as their main viewing set. The US and France followed with a 70% and 66% take up respectively.

Although High Definition subscribers in the US and Canada accounted for a massive world wide take up of 87% (7.9 million of the total) the UK accounts for over half of the remaining 1.2 million HD subsriptions making it a clear leader in Europe.

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WebProNews: There are 28 million U.S. households with an HDTV set, accounting for 25 percent of the population, according to a March 2008 Frank N. Magid Associates study.

During the 2007 holiday season and the 2008 Super Bowl, 5.5 million households purchased their first HDTV set, while 3 million homes bought a second HDTV.

Current HDTV owners are projected to drive demand. Close to 40 percent of HDTV owners said they plan to purchase a second HDTV set within the next year.

“Consumers who become accustomed to the sleek and contemporary appearance of their first HD set are now looking to bring that benefit into other rooms in their home,” said Maryann Baldwin, vice president at Magid Media Features.

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Baltimore Business Journal: Every other household in the U.S. owns a digital television, according to research by the Consumer Electronics Association.

According to CEA’s estimates, 32 million units will be shipped to consumers in 2008, an increase of 17 percent in unit sales over the current year. Manufacturing revenue is projected to grow by 11 percent.

And, high-definition TV sets, which support high definition programming — a form of digital television — are expected to account for 79 percent of total digital television shipments in the U.S. in 2008.

Digital technology provides programming that is superior to analog content in picture resolution and sound quality, industry observers say. It also frees up precious broadcast spectrum, which can then be diverted for use by public services and other wireless communication devices.

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