Mobile Internet Devices Will Outnumber Humans This Year, Cisco Predicts

Ars Technica: In its Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, Cisco made a startling prediction. “By the end of 2012, the number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the number of people on Earth, and by 2016 there will be 1.4 mobile devices per capita,” wrote the company. Included in the “mobile devices” category are phones, tablets, laptops, handheld gaming consoles, e-readers, in-car entertainment systems, digital photo frames, cameras, and “machine-to-machine modules” like those used to update digital billboards.

In 2011, global mobile data traffic doubled for the fourth year in a row. By 2016, Cisco believes total mobile data traffic will hit 130 exabytes a year, the equivalent of 33 billion DVDs.