While soccer fans around the world were watching the World Cup earlier this summer, those of us in the mobile industry were watching, well, the mobile industry. As I wrote a couple of months ago, the iconic global tournament served as a kind of barometer for mobile data usage, giving us a glimpse of not only the worldwide appetite for wireless information, but also of network operators’ ability to handle the increased data consumption.

Now that the Spaniards have nursed their post-win hangovers and much of the information regarding mobile data usage has been released, here are a few things we can learn from how we used mobile to track the World Cup — and what they signal for the next few years of mobile data.

Mobile data is ramping up

Allot Communications found that worldwide mobile broadband usage increased 24 percent during World Cup matches, while web browsing on mobile devices saw an impressive 35 percent rise during the games. Which means that, while the World Cup certainly spurred usage of 3G services like voice and multimedia messaging, it drove increased traffic on the mobile web even more dramatically. Allot also reported that mobile data bandwidth consumption saw a 16 percent increase during post-match mornings. Mobile data measurement startup Ground Truth, meanwhile, echoed Allot’s findings, reporting that traffic to the top mobile soccer sites tripled during the tournament. ESPN reported that the event’s first round was responsible for more than 20 million visits to the network’s mobile sites, which delivered nearly 91 million page views.

What’s clear from this data is that users are hungrier than ever for web-based content via their phones, which means carriers have unprecedented opportunity to monetize mobile data. But perhaps more importantly, the surge of usage in mobile during the tournament indicates that data consumption is often inconsistent and event-driven. Network operators, then, must be able to consistently deliver the goods when demand spikes, and they must be careful not to punish mainstream (non-hardcore) users with usage caps and onerous overage charges. Users who can’t get access or are surprised by unexpected data charges will either cut back on their usage or find a new carrier.

Apps are leading the way

Such gasoline on the roaring fire that is mobile data consumption is due, in large part, to the rapid proliferation of smartphone applications. And while consumers hunger for web-based information on their handsets, the amount of app consumption during the tournament indicates they want the customized experience and functionality that only a mobile app can deliver.

ESPN delivered, during the event, 2.5 million downloads of its World Cup application; 800,000 users downloaded its ScoreCenter app in June, an impressive spike of more than 10 percent for the mobile app. More than 1 million people, meanwhile, accessed ESPN’s FIFA app each day during the tournament on average, and 1.1 million devices accessed the app each day of the tournament on average. More than 16 million alerts were sent from ESPN via SMS and the World Cup app, and the average user opted-in and received 242 alerts during the event. The latter fact underscores not just the demand for content but the opportunities for text-based advertising. ESPN’s mobile offerings — including its apps and wireless web site — counted 98 million visits to tournament content.

Univision also reported success with its Futbol App, which was downloaded more than 450,000 times from Apple’s App Store. Meanwhile, the WC2010 World Cup BlackBerry app from Polar Mobile delivered 265,000 downloads during the tournament, and nearly 115,000 mobile fans used the app at least once a day. And the U.K.’s ITV FIFA World Cup App was downloaded 800,000 times as the World Cup played out.

We believe mobile applications will play less of a role as mainstream handsets become more sophisticated and the wireless web becomes more user-friendly, but for now the demand for content-specific mobile applications is undeniable.

An interesting side note is that the popularity of the World Cup extended beyond news and information applications and into the world of mobile gaming. BuzzCity, a mobile social networking startup that targets users in emerging markets in Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and elsewhere, said its mobile gaming downloads in South Africa exploded roughly four-fold from May to June, jumping from fewer than 140,000 to more than 656,000. That demonstrates that tie-ins with related events can be an effective strategy for pushing content and applications.

Mobile video is still a niche

There were plenty of headlines about the World Cup’s role in fueling wireless video: Sprint crowed that “close to 700,000” of its subscribers tuned in via the carrier’s ESPN Mobile TV channel; ESPN reported that roughly one million users watched its mobile video offering. The sports network said it delivered 555,000 mobile video sessions during a two-day period in the tournament’s early stages. And Allot reported that YouTube’s mobile traffic increased by nearly one-third during post-match mornings.

But those spikes, among others, belie the fact that mobile video is still a very small segment of the overall wireless data industry. Only 7.5 percent of U.S. adults currently watch video on a mobile phone once a month or more, according to a recent report from Forrester Research. That number has more than doubled in the last year, the Wall Street Journal reported, but the segment is still shackled by a variety of factors, including network latencies and high carrier pricing. Perhaps most importantly, the small screen sizes of mobile phones still make for a poor viewing experience compared to set-top boxes or even laptops. This again points to the inconsistencies in mobile data consumption, and that certain spikes may owe more to large, publicized events like the World Cup than any factor.

Networks were up to the task

Perhaps the most important take-away from the World Cup, though, is the one that didn’t make headlines. While the event predictably saw a surge in mobile data consumption — including bandwidth-hogging video — there were no major reports of network failures, despite predictions to the contrary. It seems for now, at least, the infrastructure is largely in place for operators who are increasingly struggling with ways to manage — and monetize — the spiraling data usage that has resulted from the surge in smartphones and mobile applications.

It appears that most mobile network operators are well positioned to handle incremental increases in traffic from mobile video and other data-heavy uses; the industry just needs to find ways to make those offerings (especially video) more attractive. And that bodes well for carriers as they increasingly depend on data revenues and build out their 4G networks.