College students are more likely to access mobile e-mail than their parents or business executives of similar middle age, a new survey reported.

The poll released by Seattle's M:Metrics said Tuesday that students in their late teens consumed more mobile content than any other group, making them a top market for such services.

Students who also held down jobs were found to be 42-percent more likely to use mobile e-mail than the average mobile subscriber. Mobile-browser use by students was up nearly 9 percent in July -- a rate well above non-students -- while photo messaging by all customer groups grew 10.7 percent.

"Students are out-consuming all others in mobile content consumption -- even in applications that are typically thought of as for the enterprise, like mobile e-mail," M:Metric's Seamus McAteer said in a release.

The summer-long survey of mobile users found that teenagers spent $41-$60 per month on mobile services, although many were on their families' plans and didn't actually pay the bills.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International