For several reasons I had occasion to look back at some of the mobile predictions I made in January. At the risk of sounding self-important or boastful many of them have come to pass. In fact I was somewhat surprised by the number, which is why I'm posting about it now.

For review, here are the original predictions from January:

1. 2012 ends with 65% smartphone penetration in the US
2. Android reaches 60%+ smartphone penetration by the end of 2012
3. Voice search: Siri expands its reach to many more third party services; Google and Microsoft beef up their competitive voice offerings
4. Apple launches its own mapping service for iOS
5. RIM’s co-CEOs resign in 1H 2012
6. Windows Phones see modest but not huge success in North America, greater success in Europe/Asia
7. Major smartphone security (hacking/virus) event happens this year (most likely on Android handsets)
8. Mobile payments see continued growth but 2012 isn’t the “breakthrough” year
9. Tablets galore: 100 million tablets in market by the end of 2012 (globally). The iPad represents 65% of the market
10. Google announces mobile ads “run rate” of $4 billion (in Q4)
11. Facebook launches mobile advertising in 1H 2012
12. Amazon buys a mobile ad network (Millennial or Jumptap)

Here are my comments and updates on each item:

1. The smartphone penetration number (per Nielsen) right now is 55%; we'll probably end the year close to 60%
2. Android smartphone market share in the US is 53% now (per comScore), probably going to 55% - 57% by the end of Q4 2012
3. Siri has been beefed up and its structured data sources expanded. Google has answered to some degree with "Google Now" and related voice assistant; however Microsoft hasn't done anything significant in this arena beyond its core voice search. 
4. Apple Maps launched of course
5. RIM’s co-CEOs both resigned in the first half
6. Windows Phones have continued to lose share in the US market (per comScore) but have seen some modest success in other markets
7. Android malware has dramatically increased but there has been no single cataclysmic event 
8. Mobile payments and wallets continue to make incremental gains (see Apple Passbook) but 2012 isn't the "breakthrough year" 
9. The iPad's market share is about 68% on a global basis today. Roughly 84 million iPads have been sold to date and many millions of other non-iOS tablets. I suspect the 100 million threshold will be crossed by the end of Q4 if it hasn't been already
10. Google announced a mobile run rate of $8 billion, with probably 70% to 75% of it being ad revenue. 
11. Facebook did launch mobile advertising 
12. Amazon has not (yet) bought a mobile ad network

Not bad . . .