Over the course of the last several years, the mobile ecosystem has displayed exceptional growth. At the end of 2010, there were nearly 5.3 billion mobile subscribers worldwide. This figure is projected to increase to nearly 7.4 billion by the end of 2015. In North America alone, there were 335 million mobile subscribers in 2010, with a forecasted increase to 406 million by 2015. Pushing this skyrocketing number of mobile subscribers has been the introduction of a new breed of smartphones.

The rapid growth of both mobile subscriptions and devices introduced mobile applications, which have changed and will continue to change our daily lives. Worldwide, there were 6.7 billion mobile apps downloaded in 2010. By 2015 that number is expected to grow to 37.6 billion. Mobile apps provide a level of convenience never seen before, allowing immediate access to information that has the power to change the way we interact with the world around us. Whether conducting business, making purchases, viewing videos, or listening to music, mobile apps will continue to evolve.

For more on the future of mobile, we recommend this detailed 424 page report covering the Mobile Internet by Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins. Meeker published the report when she was at Morgan Stanley in 2009. It explores 8 major mobile themes in depth (report is 50mb and will take a few minutes to load).