Mobile search has been big in Asia, especially in Japan, Korea, and China. But many reports came out this year suggest that the mobile search and marketing industry will grow even bigger in the next a couple of years, throughout the Asia. This is exiting.

• In India, the mobile Internet users reached 46 million + in Q4 2011, and 4G service is expected to cover 28 million connections by 2015.
• In Indonesia, the mobile Internet users is expected to reach 145 million + (penetration rate : 107%) by 2015.
• In Malaysia, the mobile penetration rate has already reached 119%, and 89% of them are smartphone users in 2012.
• 64% of 106 million mobile subscribers in Philippines possess Internet-enabled mobile phones (including smartphone).
• Thailand’s mobile data revenue is expected to reach $1.5 billion in 2015.

In many Asian countries, mobile has already become the main device to access the Internet. It’s time to get serious about the mobile marketing and mobile search.

Note that iPhone may not be the main choice for many Asians, as there are many local smartphone available at lower cost. The responsive design that could adopt to different screen size is definitely the way to go.

I’m speaking at SES SF next week on two sessions: 1) Search, Social, and Mobile in Asia on the 15th (@2:45pm), and 2) Global SEM – Asia focus on the 16th (@1pm). I look forward to sharing the knowledge, and to learn from the other experts.