Downloading via mobile phones is still at infancy. According to M:Metrics, 83 percent of mobile music consumed in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States are sideloaded or transferred from another source such as computers or directly from other phones.

Still, only 10% of subscribers are listening music via mobile phones. The graph (click "View image") attached below show that U.S. is a laggard in this category, in terms of percentage.

Mobile music is quickly catching on, and the fact that consumers are sharing music demonstrates its potential as a social, viral phenomenon centered on mobile handsets," said Jen Wu, analyst, M:Metrics. "The proliferation of musicphones is causing a shift in digital music toward the mobile platform, which opens numerous opportunities for music-related content, services, hardware and accessories built to accommodate or enhance these mobile music activities.

Although U.S. is behind, it is to date the fastest growing market for its music phone penetration grew by 64% from 23.2 million in 2006 to 63.8 million in 2007.

View image
View image

Via cellular-news
Photo via My Control Radio