The iPhone Multiplayer Community OpenFeint today announced that they have:

• 8,000 developers using OpenFeint
• 25 Million community members
• Since November 2009, the community has grown 5X and continues to increase in size.

Here’s a chart of their growth:

According to CMS Wire, Juniper Research predicts:

Web 2.0 applications and services will hit US$ 18.9 billion in 2014

Presence based Mobile Web 2.0 services will increase to more than $6 billion by 2012

Getjar estimates the value of mobile apps alone in 2012 to reach US$ 17 billion

According to a report by Pyramid Research, Smartphones will capture 37% of the worldwide cell phone market by 2014. This is an increase of 16%in 2009.

• China will capture the No. 1 position in 2010
• Brazil will have a CAGR of 43% over the next five years
• India will have a CAGR of 39% over the next five years
• Turkey will have a CAGR of 37% over the next five years
• Nigeria will have a CAGR of 34% over the next five years
• Latin America will be the fastest growing region at a compound annual growth rate of 48%
• Africa and the Middle East will have a 39% CAGR

Pyramid also forecasts sales of 1.8 billion smartphones over the next five years

According to a release from IDC, there were more than 450 million mobile Internet users worldwide in 2009, a number that is expected to more than double by the end of 2013. Here are the highlights from IDC’s Worldwide Digital Marketplace Model and Forecast”:

• More than 1.6 billion people – a little over a quarter of the world’s population – used the Internet in 2009
• By 2013, over 2.2 billion people – more than one third of the world’s population – is expected to be using the Internet
• More than 1.6 billion devices worldwide were used to access the Internet in 2009, including PCs, mobile phones, and online videogame consoles
• By 2013, the total number of devices accessing the Internet will increase to more than 2.7 billion
• China continues to have more Internet users than any other country, with 359 million in 2009
• The number of Internet users in China is expected to grow to 566 million by 2013
• The United States had 261 million Internet users in 2009, a figure that will reach 280 million in 2013. India will have one of the fastest growing Internet populations, growing almost two-fold between 2009 and 2013.
• The United States has far more total devices connected to the Internet than any other country
• China is the leader in in the number of mobile online devices with almost 85 million mobile devices connected to the Internet in 2009
• The number of Internet devices in India, both mobile and fixed, is expected to grow commensurate with the number of Internet users
• Worldwide, more than 624 million Internet users will make online purchases in 2009, totaling nearly $8 trillion (both business to business and business to consumer)
• By 2013, worldwide eCommerce transactions will be worth more than $16 trillion
• Worldwide spending on Internet advertising will total nearly $61 billion in 2009, which is slightly more than 10% of all ad spending across all media
• Worldwide spending on Internet advertising is expected to reach almost 15% of all ad spending across all media by 2013 as Internet ad spending grows surpasses $100 billion worldwide

Now in its 7^th year, the Mobile Games Forum is firmly established as the leading Mobile Games event in Europe. With the whole ecosystem present – operators, publishers, developers, handset manufacturers and software providers – all industry viewpoints will be represented at MGF 2010 at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London on 19^th and 20^th January 2010. This is your perfect opportunity to question and meet industry experts from:

• Orange
• Vodafone
• 3
• Sony Ericsson
• Nokia
• EA Mobile
• Chillingo
• Glu Mobile
• AdMob
• Walt Disney Internet Group,
• Ariadne Capital
• PAN Vision
• Flirtomatic
• Scoreloop
• GetJar
• Digital Legends Entertainment
• Mplayit
• Fishlabs
• TinRaven
• Mountain Sheep
• Namco Bandai Networks Europe
• Finblade
• DFJ Esprit
• Digital Chocolate
• Doughty Hanson
• Xendex
• Ideaworks 3D
• HandyGames
• Fox Mobile Distribution
• Handmark
• Dojo Media
• Real Networks plus many more.

The unbeatable speaker line-up includes over 45 cutting-edge viewpoints from industry leaders. Independent developers are eligible for a special rate and International Digital Entertainment Agency contacts receive a 15% discount when registering using code C0004IDEA. For full details please visit www.mobilegamesforum.co.uk or contact andrew_mowbray@osneymedia.com.

According to eMarketer, there will be 126.2 Million Mobile Internet Users by 2013. This presents great opportunities for social gaming companies and mobile entertainment companies as it becomes easier to have cross-platform access to entertainment. It also means there will need to be a greater push for mobile browser sized web pages and applications.

eMarketer’s article also cites Yankee Group’s projection that:

• Smartphone application revenues will reach $4.2 billion in 2013
• Smartphone application revenues are estimated at $343 million in 2009

According to eMarketer, the U.S. Mobile phone Market will reach 255.4 Million people by 2013. This represents 80% of the population.

According to Gartner Group, Smartphone sales this year will grow by 29% year-over-year to 180 million units, overtaking laptop sales.

• By 2012, smartphone revenue will reach $191 billion
• By 2012, $152 billion that’s will be spent on mobile PCs
• Smartphones account for 14% of overall mobile device sales today
• By 2012, smartphones devices will make up 37% of global handset sales

According to reports from DFC Intelligence, the worldwide market for portable and mobile games is expected to grow to $11.7 billion by 2014.

By 2014, sales for games on the iPhone/iPod Touch are expected to account for about 24% of total portable game software sales

“The dedicated portable game systems from companies like Nintendo and Sony are still expected to lead the market, but it appears growth for these devices has peaked. The platforms from Apple are expected to be responsible for the bulk of market growth over the next few years,” says DFC analyst David Cole.

DFC also released some results from a study on the mobile game habits of over 8,000 game players in North America and Europe:

• 54% of respondents in North America had played a game on their mobile phone in the past year
• 69% of respondents in Europe had played a game on their mobile phone in the past year
• 45% of respondents in North America had paid to purchase an application for their mobile phone
• 36% in Europe had paid to purchase an application for their mobile phone.
• Across both North America and Europe about 15% of respondents already owned an iPhone or iPod Touch, compared with 29% that owned a Nintendo DS

These reports are available individually or as part of one of DFC Intelligence’s ongoing research services.

An article in Advertising Age points out some interesting information on the penetration of iPhones among women in the coveted 18-49 age group.

• 18% of women age 18-49 have a smartphone (roughly 3% of the total cellphone-carrying population) – Source:  Nielsen
• 721,000 moms age 25-44 own an iPhone – Source: M: Metrics.

The article also points out that advertising content is more ineffective with iPhone users:

• Users of conventional cellphones average 4.3 to 4.8 post-click page views
• iPhone users only average 1.3 post-click page views (actions the user takes after clicking a banner ad)

“iPhone users leave a branded web page without taking additional action about 80% of the time; only 12% of non-smartphone users, on the other hand, desert their destination.” – Advertising Age