BANGALORE, INDIA: From knowing what's happening around the world to paying bills to watching movies, one can do everything on a phone. Hence connectivity has become as essential as road or electricity.

According to ConsumerLab report from Ericsson, by 2016 mobile phone users living on less than one per cent of the Earth’s total land area are set to generate around 60 per cent of mobile traffic.

Also Read: Demand for video driving mobile data traffic

The report has come out with some hot consumer trends for 2012, CIOL lists them out:

Connectivity is king

Being connected is not only crucial for keeping up with friends’ activities; it increasingly means access to income. In 2010, Ericsson and Arthur D. Little concluded that for every 10 percentage point increase in broadband penetration, a country’s GDP increases by one percent. This study also revealed that around 80 new jobs are created for every 1,000 new broadband connections.

The research concludes that doubling a country’s broadband speed increases its GDP by 0.3 per cent.

Social media redefines news reporting

Social networks have become true media hubs, driving consumption of pictures, video clips and music based on the flow of conversations and posts. And now serious news reporting is being redefined.

We have heard of the importance of Twitter in social media, and in a recent Ericsson project focused on the aftermath of the Japan earthquake and tsunami disaster, we were astounded at the sharp rise of social media. During a recent field study in New York, we had the same experience – there was an earthquake and people found out about it via Facebook, not CNN.

Role of mobile phones

American speaker and writer Denis Waitley once said: “First we make our habits, and then our habits make us.” Our research confirms that habits related to commuting, shopping and household chores make up a large part of our lives.

This may be the reason why consumers show greater interest in mobile services that are directly related to nearby places and things. In a recent study, 58 per cent of smartphone users said they wanted to use their mobile phones as commuting passes, 70 per cent wanted to have their loyalty cards stored on their phones and 76 per cent wanted to use their phones as bar-code scanners for price comparisons.