As Mobile Phones Proliferate, So Do Bells and Whistles

If you’re doing business with Russia or Argentina, it’s a heck of a lot more likely that you can reach your contacts on their mobile phones now than it was eight years ago.

Worldwide, mobile-phone use is up dramatically. In the 16 nations where trend information is available, the median percentage of adults owning a cell phone was just 45 percent in 2002, the Pew Global Attitudes Project found in a survey released last week. By 2007, that number had risen to 70 percent, and in 2010 the median reached 81 percent.

The increase in cell-phone ownership was especially noticeable in Russia and Kenya, where cell-phone usage rose from less than one in 10 in 2002 to nearly two-thirds in 2010. Cell-phone ownership also rose rapidly in Jordan (up 59 percentage points from 2002 to 2010), Argentina (up by 49 percent), China (up 40 percent), and Indonesia (up 38 percent), Pew's latest Daily Numbers report found.

This isn’t lost on mobile-device manufacturers, who gathered last week for the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which reportedly set a record with more than 60,000 attendees.

Although in the past, cutting-edge technologies such as 3G were first deployed in Europe and Asia, CNET pointed out a greater emphasis on the American mobile market this year, with Sony among those targeting the U.S. market. Plus, the four companies to watch in the mobile space are also U.S.-based, claims CNET, citing Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Research In Motion.

What’s new in mobile phones for business users? Here are three key releases to know about.

• Google’s Android platform for smartphones and tablets was the story of the show. Mashable partnered with Webtrends to come up with the most buzzed-about products in Barcelona, and Samsung won the buzz in the smartphone race with the Galaxy S II, which is being pitted against the iPhone. It features the Google Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system, an 8-megapixel camera, and a 4.3-inch display with a Super AMOLED Plus screen, designed to provide a clearer view. It weighs 4 ounces, a bit less than the iPhone, and is 8.49 millimeters thick, which is believed to be the thinnest smartphone available. It is reportedly headed to T-Mobile, although no price or release date was given.
• If social networking is part of your job, HTC announced two smartphones, each with a dedicated "Facebook button" that makes it easy to add links and photos right from your phone. The HTC Salsa and the HTC ChaCha are set to arrive in Europe and Asia in the second quarter and in the U.S. market later this year, via AT&T.
• PC Magazine described the LG Revolution with VoLTE, Verizon's future high-quality LTE voice and video calling service, as “the biggest innovation in voice calls since Skype,” saying it will make calls clearer and make reliable video calling on an Android phone possible. It will be available via Verizon, but no date or price has been announced.

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