TORONTO—If a just-released study conducted by Deloitte is to be believed, working with the mobile platform will be a key skill for designers looking to grow their businesses or find work in the coming year. Those who specialize in print, meanwhile, will continue to feel the pain as the Deloitte study predicts a continued slide for the much-beleaguered medium.

Deloitte’s 2009 TMT (Technology, Media and Telecommunications) Predictions are based on research and input from more than 6,000 clients, industry analysts and leading global executives. This year, research also included in-depth interviews with 50 TMT C-level executives from around the world.

The rise of mobile advertising has been predicted for years here in Canada but several factors, including sky-high usage rates, slow networks and weak processing power have stunted its growth. That’s all beginning to change, says Duncan Stewart, director of Deloitte Canada Research.

Though mobile only made up 0.4% of total global adspend last year, “higher smart phone penetration, higher network speeds, better mobile operating systems and, in some cases, a better understanding of the medium means that mobile ads are likely to be the only category of advertising that grows in 2009.”

Stewart says media buyers will gravitate towards mobile because it is seen as a cheap and effective way to reach potential consumers. “In a recession, it’s the last untapped market,” Stewart says. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw growth of 200, 300 or 400%.”

While text ads will dominate, Stewart says the rise of smart phones, such as the iPhone and the Blackberry, have made Flash-driven or video mobile ads more feasible.

As for print media, Deloitte is predicting that one in ten publications will fold in the developed world in 2009, as the triple threat of weak ad markets, declining readership (especially for newspapers) and lack of advertising ROI takes its toll. Contact: www.deloitte.com