THE mobile internet industry has seen wildly fluctuating rates of internet use on mobile devices due to the conflicting influences of smarter phones and the impact of the global financial crisis.

A report from the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association on mobiles revealed there was a spike in mobile internet use in the December quarter last year as people bought new devices such as the iPhone for Christmas.

However, AIMIA said that growth was tempered in January and February of this year.

"A major question that has been circulating within the digital industry since the beginning of the year has been around how the global financial crisis would affect consumer browsing via mobile,'' AIMIA's Mobile Traffic Trend report stated.

"The data clearly shows a dramatic reduction in mobile browsing in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the last quarter of 2008,'' it stated.

"However on the whole, the industry faired exceptionally well during the ongoing instability of the economy.''

Quarterly growth leapt to 17.3 per cent in the last quarter of 2008, but slumped to just 6 per cent in Q1 2009.

AIMIA said that growth rates had rebounded in February with total growth for the six months from October to March set at 24.4 per cent.