ReadWriteWeb

In only four short years, the worldwide mobile data traffic will reach 40 exabytes per year. This is according to new research from Cisco which sees the traffic jumping from 0.09 exabytes per month in 2009 to 3.6 exabytes per month by 2014. And in case you don't know what an exabyte is, it's 1 billion gigabytes. That's one quintillion bytes.

It appears that not only does the mobile web have a future, the mobile web is the future.

RIM's BlackBerry platform is still the most popular mobile smartphone platform in the US, but Google's Android was the big winner in the last quarter of 2009. According to comScore, Android's share of the US mobile market more than doubled from 2.5% in September 2009 to 5.2% in December. While the Nexus One might not be a bestseller just yet, it's clear that the Android platform is poised for rapid growth in the next few months as more and more manufactures continue to release Android-based phones.

If our attempts at getting such simple information as bus schedules or account balances from automated voice recognition systems are any indication, then we imagine Google has a lot of work to do in its latest endeavor - real-time, spoken-language translation.

Google just made it a little bit easier to call ahead for reservations or to order a pizza for pick-up while you're on the go. In addition to its recent addition of location-based search suggestions, Google has added the ability for businesses to include a clickable phone number in their listings, making it even easier to use the search engine on your smartphone.

There was a turning point a couple of years ago when it was suddenly undeniable: It was either text message or be left behind. If you were paying for it by the message, you suddenly had to find a plan, because you started having more and more friends that wouldn't talk any other way. Well, we're wondering if it has finally reached that point in the U.K. - or if it's yet to come.

A report today from the Mobile Data Association shows that, while texting is becoming increasingly popular in the United Kingdom, it is still lagging behind the U.S.

A host of reasons conspire against the general population in whether or not they use a cell phone - smart or otherwise - to use the Internet. According to research by UK-based Essential Research, 76% of mobile phone users don't use their mobile to access the Internet, and there are several barriers keeping them from doing so, whether actual or perceived.

The study, which focused on 2,000 people over the age of 16 living in the UK, found, among other things, that only 10% of mobile phone owners access the Internet on a daily basis. How can this be and why?

This morning, Google and Verizon announced an agreement that will bring Android phones to Verizon. Verizon, which has been trying to position itself as the 'open carrier,' will start to offer its first two Android phones within the next few weeks. In a clear jab against Apple, Verizon also announced that it will support Google Voice on these devices. Verizon also has no plans to make any changes to the Android Market.

Last month, Sprint also announced that it will offer Android devices in the near future, leaving AT&T as the only major wireless company in the US that doesn't offer an Android handset - though AT&T, of course, still holds the exclusive rights to the iPhone.

GetJar, a large cross-platform mobile application store, has today launched a new service called the "App Download Page." Designed for companies distributing mobile applications, this page is essentially a mobile-ready web page which automatically detects the make and model of a website visitor's mobile phone in order to identify the correct version of the mobile app they had wanted to download. This makes mobile downloads much easier on consumers who no longer have to try and remember their phone's model number when looking through a download list - the identification is automatic. All the user has to do is click a link.

InMobi, which is the largest mobile ad network in Asia, Africa, and Indonesia, just released some interesting data regarding mobile web usage which shows that RIM's BlackBerry is leading the pack ahead of Apple's iPhone in Indonesia. Indonesia is one of the world's fastest growing mobile consumer markets and will become the third largest mobile market by 2010. Apple, however, is currently losing the race against BlackBerry in this market. While InMobi saw requests from BlackBerry devices increase by 842% in the first half of 2009, requests from iPhones only increased by 205%.

Palm's new Pre smartphone is supposed to be remarkably easy for developers to work with but this weekend the company reached out to one such community and demanded they shut down any discussion of one of the most hoped-for software developments - tethering the Pre to laptops for mobile wireless internet access. Apparently, you will pay for multiple internet subscriptions and you will not use cell networks for regular internet access without paying an additional subscription beyond your phone's voice and data fees!