• February 6, 2009

One in three mobile consumers recall seeing mobile advertising, with that figure rising to 41% for iPhone users, according to fourth-quarter data from mobile social network Limbo and GFK Technology. Of ads recalled, 20% were SMS text ads.

The most common response among consumers who recalled an ad was calling a toll-free number provided in the message, with 16% taking that step. One in seven reported visiting a mobile site or buying a product as a results of viewing a mobile ad. Women were 85% more likely to respond to ads than men, and those ages 18 to 24 were twice as likely to respond as those age 25 and over.

African American and Hispanic consumers were three times as likely as Caucasians to respond to mobile advertising. Overall, there were 271 million U.S. mobile phone users in the fourth quarter, up 8% from a year ago. The number of people texting increased 16% to 162 million.

The study also found that iPhone owners were more than twice as likely to browse the mobile Web as other cell phone subscribers and three times as likely to user location-based services such as a map or a restaurant-finder.--Mark Walsh