• More streamed content: Consumers are increasingly requiring on-demand or streamed content, as opposed to simply having access to downloadable content. Mobile cloud traffic will grow by 28 times between 2011 and 2016.
• More mobile connections: There will be over ten billion mobile internet-connected devices in 2016, exceeding the world’s projected population for that period.
• Enhanced computing power of devices: Mobile devices are becoming more powerful and thus able to consume and generate more data traffic. Tablets are a prime example of this trend generating traffic levels that will grow 62 fold between 2011 and 2016, the highest growth rate of any device category tracked in this forecast. The amount of mobile data traffic generated by tablets in 2016 (one exabyte per month) will be four times the total amount of monthly global mobile data traffic experienced during 2010. The figure for that year was 237 petabytes (one petabyte is a thousand terabyte or a million GB) per month.
• Faster mobile speeds: Mobile network connection speed is a key enabler for mobile data traffic growth. More speed leads to more consumption and Cisco projects mobile speeds (including 2G, 3G and 4G networks) to increase nine-fold from 2011 to 2016.
• More mobile video: Mobile users want the best experiences they can have, which will comprise the majority (71%) of all mobile data traffic by 2016.

In other related market research news, PwC recently analysed trends within the local and global gaming industry.