Among Australian mobile phone users, 21 percent own an Apple iPhone, a meteoric rise since it was first introduced in 2008. Nokia maintains its lead in the market with 41 percent, while BlackBerry dropped to third place at 3 percent, according to the Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index.

The report, which has been published annually since 2005, surveyed 4,000 mobile phone users on the types of phones they use, and for what purposes. The study noted that the past 12 months have seen a decline in ringtone and wallpaper downloads, while seeing an increase in website and social networking visits. In the entertainment and application category, games were the most popular.

One of the more surprising trends was that while consumers may grudgingly pay for web content, they were more than willing to pay premium prices for mobile applications. Among the respondents who downloaded and installed mobile applications, 52 percent said they paid somewhere between $1 and $2.99; 30 percent paid between $3 and $5.99; and 11 percent said they paid between $6 to $10; and the smallest segment said they paid over $10.

Of these applications, games ranked the highest, followed by maps and navigation apps, with news and weather apps coming in last place.

Telstra also published its own report, which indicates that 36 percent of mobile phone users owns a smartphone, like a Blackberry or iPhone, and predicted that this number will grow to more than 50 percent in the next year.

For a detailed copy of the Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index, click here: http://www.aimia.com.au/ampli