Eighty-five percent of print publishers surveyed by the Audit Bureau of Circulations believe that more people will rely on mobile devices as a primary information source in the next three years. That probably does not surprise you. 

What might take a bit more thinking, at least by mobile service providers, is what those trends might mean for the mobile service provider business, which increasingly finds itself indirectly, if not directly, involved in the content delivery business. 

More than 80 percent of respondents believe people will rely more heavily on mobile devices as a primary information source in the next three years, which in part explains the print community's interest in tablet devices and e-readers.

Nearly 70 percent of respondents say mobile is receiving more attention at their publication this year than last year and more than a third believe their publication already has a well-developed plan for attacking and conquering the mobile market. 

About 45 percent of respondents who track mobile’s impact on their website traffic said the devices increased visits by up to 10 percent today. Half believe mobile traffic to their websites will increase by five to 25 percent in the next two years.

Among senior executive respondents, 56 percent said their publication has plans to develop a smartphone application in the next 24 months, in addition to the 17 percent of respondents who already have an app in production.

Respondents say they do not plan to abandon their print publications in favor of a digital-only product in the near term. While 55 percent believe that digital delivery of their publication is important to their strategic future, 75 percent believe that their publication will be available in a print form five years from now.

More than half of the survey respondents believe the future business model of mobile content will be supported by both advertising and subscriptions, just as print products are, and nearly a third believe that mobile will have a significant impact on their publication’s revenue in just three years.

Nearly 52 percent of survey respondents, which includes smaller community newspapers and niche magazines, are distributing or formatting content for viewing on a mobile device. Newspapers are leading the charge, with almost 58 percent already formatting their websites for mobile devices. Business and consumer magazines are following closely behind with 45 and 42 percent, respectively.

More than half of respondents believe that smartphones will become a vital way to distribute their publication within three years, while nearly 42 percent said the same about e-reader devices.

Mobile delivery does not necessarily and directly address any of the other economic and business model issues print publishers face. Mobile is, in many ways, simply another way of consuming "print" content online. What remains somewhat undeveloped at this point is how and where mobile service providers will be participants in the ecosystem. 

Obviously, mobile broadband networks are a part of the e-book reader ecosystem, at least to the extent that readers or tablets are able to download over the air. We are very early in the development of the mobile content delivery business, though. Over time, it seems likely that more "embedded" mobile access will be built into many content products.