Juniper Research: Global Mobile Virtual Items Market Size to Reach $3 Billion in 2011

 On October 26, according to a new research report published by market research firm Juniper Research, driven by the rapid growth of smartphone applications, the rapid growth of social game applications will push the global mobile virtual goods market to $3 billion in 2011 and $4.6 billion in 2016. The mobile virtual goods market is the purchase of virtual goods from mobile social media services.

The report found that Japan and China have a thriving market for selling virtual items through mobile social media services. This trend will quickly become a global trend as social games familiarize consumers with virtual items. The increase in tablet usage will further drive this growth, as tablets can provide a better social gaming experience than smartphones.

Other highlights from the report include:

By 2016, tablet-targeted advertising is expected to account for nearly half of all mobile social media ad spending.

By region, the Far East and China will continue to account for the majority of global mobile social media revenue, followed by North America.

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