With young people everywhere eschewing fixed lines and going 100% cellular for their primary phone service, it's not much of a stretch to imagine that these same people will want to use the next generation of mobile data devices to surf the web while they are moving around. Mobility is the next "big thing".

Most consumers will be accessing the Web through their mobile phones by 2020, according to new research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Pew conducted surveys with about 1,200 online experts, journalists and technologists, and the majority predicted that the affordability, easy accessibility, widespread use and portability of mobile phones will make them the "primary" Internet connection.

http://www.adotas.com/2008/12/report-most-will-access-net-via-phone-by-2020/

A survey of internet leaders, activists and analysts shows they expect major tech advances as the phone becomes a primary device for online access, voice-recognition improves, artificial and virtual reality become more embedded in everyday life, and the architecture of the internet itself improves.

They disagree about whether this will lead to more social tolerance, more forgiving human relations, or better home lives.

http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/270/report_display.asp

We trust each other more than we trust producers and advertisers. In the age of information overload, and overwhelming market choice, consumers are looking for 'authentic' reports from peers to help them make purchasing decisions. While we have long been warned to be careful when we get information from the web, that such information has not been vetted and proven to be true, blogs are nonetheless growing in stature as a trusted source of 'truth' in the marketplace.

While the rise of blog readership in recent years is no secret, the power of blogs to influence what people buy is less established. But as a recent study reveals, that power is significant -- so much that a majority of blog readers say blogs are useful when they make purchases.

The study, which polled 2,210 people and was released this fall, found that the increase in blog readership from 2004 to 2008 was 300 percent; 47 percent of online consumers now read blogs. Half of blog readers said blogs were useful when they were considering what purchases to make, and more than half of that group said they looked at a blog just when they were about to buy something.

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