According to a report from Irish analysis firm Research and Markets, consumers worldwide will buy more video-enabled mobile phones than TV sets in 2008. The report, “Mobile Media 2008: The Third Screen for Entertainment,” predicts that 300 million multimedia and Web-enabled handsets will be sold this year, and that more than half the world’s population, 3.3 billion people, now have a mobile phone.

“The potential size of the market for mobile media is staggering,” noted the report’s authors. “The thought of several billion consumers carrying around a hand-held device that is capable of playing video and audio entertainment is making content creators salivate.”