Alan O'Dea

Global Internet traffic is expected to quadruple between 2010 and 2015, according to data provided to Mashableby Cisco.

By that time, nearly 3 billion people will be using the Internet — more than 40% of the world’s projected population. On average, there will be more than two Internet connections for each person on Earth, driven by the proliferation of web-enabled mobile devices.

Internet traffic is projected to approach 1 zettabyte per year in 2015 — that’s equivalent of all the digital data in existence in 2010. Regionally speaking, traffic is expected to more than double in the Middle East and Africa, where there will be an average of 0.9 devices per person for a projected population of 1.39 billion. Latin America is close behind, with a 48% increase in traffic and an estimated 2.1 devices per person among a population of 620 million.

The rest of the world will experience more moderate growth in terms of traffic, but the number of devices per person is forecast to increase significantly. By 2015, there will be an average of 5.8 devices per person in North America, 5.4 in Japan and 4.4 in western Europe.

Somewhat surprisingly, it is neither mobile phones nor tablets that are expected to grow the most in the next four years. Rather, flat panel televisions will experience the greatest production increase globally, up 1,063% from 2010, followed by tablets (750%), digital photo frames (600%) and ereaders (550%). The number of non-smartphones and smartphones is expected to increase by 17% and 194% worldwide, respectively.

The Gamer

The average age of a gamer is 34 YRS and the average gamers has been playing gamers for 12 Years. The average gamers spends 8 hours per week playing games. 40% of all gamers are female.

Add another big figure to Apple’s list of accomplishments in the world of smartphones and tablets: the company has approved half a million apps for its mobile platform iOS.

Apple has not officially announced the figure, and the number of apps you can actually download and install is considerably lower due to some apps being pulled or rendered obsolete. But if you strictly count the apps Apple has approved so far, the number is a little more than 500,000.

To honor the occasion, three companies specializing in iOS apps – game-maker Chillingo, app search engineChomp and app blog 148apps – have created an infographic highlighting some of the most interesting figures related to the vast ecosystem of iOS apps. According to their data, there are 85,569 unique app developers; the most popular iOS app is Angry Birds, and 37% of iOS apps are free, while another 29% of all apps cost only $0.99.

The numbers are impressive, considering the App Store launched less than three years ago, in July 2008, with a meager 500 apps.

Thanks to Jesse Thomas of interactive design agency JESS3, we now have an updated look at the structure of the geosocial universe as it exists in anno domini 2011. It wasn’t so long ago that the International Astronomical Union booted Pluto out of the solar system or that MySpace was overtaking Yahoo! and Google as the most-visited site in the U.S. Well, a few rotations around the sun later, and the overall shape of the geosocial universe has changed dramatically. New stars have been born and others have been scattered out across the cold recesses of Internet space. Today, Myspace is sputtering, Skype is part of the Microsoft solar system, and LinkedIn is being traded publicly. The whacky flux continues.

As you’ll see, Thomas’ infographic shows the current size of major social networks as well as the other well-known online services we use on a daily basis relative to their peers. It also overlays the present size of each company’s mobile user base. You’ll see Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, MySpace, LinkedIn, and more. You can also check out the agency’s infographicfrom last year to see the relative changes. Notable differences include: The rise of Chinese Qzone and Twitter, the fall of Myspace, and the stasis of Friendster.

Some other notable trends in the geosocial universe, courtesy of JESS3:

• Mobile: 5.3 billion mobile devices are used worldwide — that’s 77 percent of the world’s population
• Smartphones: 21.8 percent of all mobile devices are smartphones. Despite what one might think, Apple does not top the list in sales—Nokia does
• Skype: Mobile usage continues to increase thanks to Skype’s wise investment in apps and its mobile platform
• Facebook: Now tops 629 million registered users with almost 250 million people accessing the site via mobile
• Qzone: China’s version of Facebook, Qzone, is experiencing supernova-like growth with 480 million registered users
• Twitter: Broke the 200 million registered user mark with nearly 40 percent of people tweeting via mobile
• Email: Hotmail still dominates email, but Gmail is gaining fast
• Yelp: Yelp is topping 50 million unique visitors per month. Its move to team up with OpenTable earlier this year will only increase its relevancy
• Foursquare and Gowalla: These geosocial specialists are still growing, but growth seems to be slowing down a bit

Those who use social location-based apps such as Foursquare or Facebook Places represent just 17% of the mobile population, according to a study commissioned by digital agency Beyond and exclusively shared with Mashable.

Of those opting out of participating in the checkin craze, or any other social location behavior for that matter, 48% cited privacy concerns as their primary reason for not doing so. And 50% were merely unable to do so because they did not have a smartphone.

The study uncovered some positive findings for the top brand names in social networking (Facebook) and group buying (Groupon). Ninety percent of respondents actively using checkin applications indicated they use Facebook Places; 40% of those who have never checked in would consider sharing their location with Groupon.

More than half of mobile users who do use checkin apps (54%) said they are motivated to share their location when discounts are involved. Just 21%, however, said badges and status rewards motivated them to check in.

As for consumers not using checkin apps, 99% said they do not consider badges or status an incentive for sharing their location.

The message, at least in the digital agency’s not-so-objective opinion, is that brands do have an opportunity to develop geosocial strategies that reach consumers through Facebook and Groupon.

“The results of this study highlights the huge changes that will take place as social location apps move from niche to mass consumer,” says Beyond CEO David Hargreaves. “Brands that can develop ‘Glocal’ social media strategies, tap into the motivations of the mass consumer and leverage the reach of the Facebook and Groupon platforms will be the real leaders in this sector.”

Beyond, in partnership with the Social-Loco conference, surveyed a statically representative panel of 1,003 U.S. consumers during the week of April 18. Respondents were asked 21 questions designed to assess their familiarity with and usage of Facebook Places, Groupon, Living Social, Twitter’s location features, Yelp checkins, Foursquare, Gowalla, Foodspotting, Path, Instagram, Soundtracking and Aroundme.

The consumer pool’s responses were then compared against online buzz of social location-based apps, as measured by a random sample of 383 online conversations. Checkins and non-English updates were excluded from analysis.

Here are a few more stats pulled from the study:

• Nineteen percent of mass consumers are motivated to check in to learn about the location.
• Early adopters are more likely to check in at locations that sell food or drinks. The top places are restaurants (53%), coffee shops (40%), hotels (38%) and bars (36%).
• Mass consumers check in most frequently at the homes of friends and family (35%) and restaurants (33%).

The study’s results are not all that surprising. We’ve known for some time that the percentage of the population willing to embrace checkins is quite small — just 4% according to the Pew Research Center — and that mobile users have a strong predilection for coupons over checkins.

The findings, though potentially accurate measurements, don’t reflect the maturation of the space or the impressive growth of the smaller social location-based startups pushing the envelope.

For more on the study’s finding, check out the infographic below (click to enlarge).