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Thursday, March 20, 2008

InternetNews Realtime IT News – Google Sees Surge in Web Use on Hot Mobile Phones

InternetNews Realtime IT News – Google Sees Surge in Web Use on Hot Mobile Phones: "Google has seen increasing Internet activity among mobile phone users in recent months since the company introduced faster Web services on selected phone models, fueling confidence the mobile Internet era is at hand, the company said on Tuesday.

Helge: What are those models?

Early evidence showing sharp increases in Internet usage on phones, not just computers, has emerged from services Google has begun offering in recent months on Blackberry e-mail phones, Nokia devices for multimedia picture and video creators and business professionals and the Apple iPhone, the world's top Web search company said.

Helge: I see, it's Blackberry, Nokia, Apple iPhone.

'We have very much hit a watershed moment in terms of mobile Internet usage,' Matt Waddell, a product manager for Google Mobile, said in an interview. 'We are seeing that mobile Internet use is in fact accelerating.'

Helge: This also explains the gossips for a coming Google Phone.

The growing availability of flat-rate data plans from phone carriers instead of per-minute charges that previously discouraged Internet use, along with improved Web browsers on mobile phones as well as better-designed services from companies like Google are fueling the growth, Waddell argued."

Helge: The flat-rate data plans are very important.

"We are actually seeing a 20 percent increase in the number of searches by people," Waddell said.

Helge: The post-PC era is emerging.

Microsoft expects to have sold 20 million Windows Mobile devices by the end of its fiscal year in June, which together with Blackberry and Symbian-based phones represent upward of 85 percent of the Internet-ready smartphones sold in the world.

Helge: Microsoft is part of the game, sure. It has a bigger base than Apple. How about Motorola?

Users of phones based on software from Research in Motion, Nokia's Symbian-based phones and now Microsoft Windows Mobile can download the software at mobile.google.com.

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