What may come even sooner, however, is an iPhone able to take advantage of next-generation--or so-called 3G--mobile data networks.
At the same time, we were moving from 2G to faster 3G mobile data networks, and Wi-Fi was growing.
But it's increasingly complicated to access mobile data networks abroad, something more people are interested in as phones get more sophisticated.
Last winter Congress approved auctions to encourage over-the-air TV broadcasters to transfer underused spectrum to more valuable modern services, such as mobile data networks.
Insurers are accelerating efforts to tap into the systems that enable a car to communicate with satellites and mobile data networks, and use information about how you drive to set your rates.
As big as those figures are, however, it could be argued that they could have been even higher if not for the impact of several mobile messaging clients that utilize mobile data networks and Wi-Fi, but do not generate revenue for the mobile carriers.
FORBES: Blackberry, Yahoo, Apple, Google and Now FaceBook to Pressure Carrier Texting Revenue
What does BMW know about mobile data networks, how do they role out M2M services around the world, how do they deal with app development, what OS should they use, how do you deal with regulations regarding driver distraction in France vs Chile vs Japan vs a thousand other locations?
Wi-fi is also much faster than mobile phone data networks and traditional dial-up connections.
Which U.S. carriers really offer the fastest mobile-data networks?
"LTE is the future of mobile communications, and faster data networks will become a key area of differentiation for consumers when choosing their mobile devices, " said Kevin Ho, President of the Handset Product Line of Huawei Device.
ENGADGET: Huawei Ascend P1 LTE named as EE exclusive in UK, other markets to follow
These future networks handle data far better than today's mobile networks and make it possible to offer customers all manner of exotic services that give them access to music tracks, video clips and interactive web tools.
France Telecom said slow data speeds on African mobile networks made it hard to support full blown web-browsing.
Both protocols are expected to allow smartphone users to upload and download mobile Web data faster than current 3G networks.
One outcome of unrelenting data growth in datacenters and mobile networks has been the accelerated adoption of cloud computing.
The mobile industry, whose networks are overrun with data-hungry users, meanwhile, controls just 10-15%.
Wajam, an up-and-coming player in the social search space, is going beyond the desktop with social recommendatios for iOS users, which provides access to friend data across social networks when using Mobile Safari.
FORBES: Wajam Adds Social Search To Mobile - But Is It Safe?
Silicon Valley is also home to a new generation of enterprise software startups harnessing momentum in cloud services, social networks, mobile computing and big data to introduce fundamentally new ways for businesses to do just about everything.
FORBES: Facebook Is More Proof Innovation Is Thriving In Silicon Valley
According to Petersen, Sense Networks applies big science to mobile location data for predictive analytics in advertising.
FORBES: Will Sense Networks Rev Up the Local Retail Mobile Ad Market?
Traditional relational databases, such as from Oracle (ORCL), were not built for the torrents of data from mobile devices, cloud apps and social networks.
Such networks provide the user little control when it comes to preventing third parties from accessing their mobile devices, client data, and even law firm networks.
FORBES: Your Ethical And Legal Duties When Using Wireless Networks
That will be especially useful over the next few years, with the arrival of third-generation mobile networks able to carry large amounts of data and provide high-speed Internet access.
The smart phone market will only take off when technologies such as GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) are implemented in mobile networks, enabling faster transfer rates of data via mobile phone, she said.
Today, mobile networks suffer the most acute impact as data traffic growth, driven by huge adoption of smartphones, tablets and other client devices, is forecast to grow at a 78% compounded annual growth rate from 2011 to 2016.
Deutsche Telekom executives maintained that their delay in launching 3G data networks hasn't hurt T-Mobile much.
He told Forbes.com that social networking could bridge the gap between fixed-line and mobile networks, from broadband at home to mobile data transmission.
In mobile networks, the dramatic rise in video is driving explosive data growth.
However, when it comes to mobile devices across all networks (read: not just using cellular data), the gap between iOS and Android devices is far wider.
ENGADGET: Akamai: Mobile data traffic doubled year-to-year in Q3, broadband adoption up
That certainly seems to be the message in a report out today from Deloitte that warns mobile networks of an almost insatiable desire amongst smartphone users for data.
Overall, Grob said, Qualcomm expects that the cellular networks will be able to handle the explosion of mobile data implied by a fast-growing population of users around the world, each downloading more and more data.
As smartphones and other mobile devices spread, they will need robust, rapid networks to deliver data to their owners.
ECONOMIST: Smart thinking is needed about smart gadgets�� influence
应用推荐