Survey: Mobile broadband one of decade's biggest innovations

The development of mobilebroadband is one of the biggest innovations to have taken place this decade, second only to devices with global positioning systems, a new survey suggests.

According to the research from mobile messaging firm Airwide Solutions, 35 per cent of more than 200 respondents consider mobile broadband the most important innovation, while social networking was ranked far lower down the scale.

Mobile broadband has grown popular in recent years as it allows people to stay connect while on the move and faster connections can facilitate the more efficient use of VoIP solutions.

James Atkinson, editor of Mobile magazine, said: "[The BlackBerry] is much more integrated and you can swap between things with ease. We are all basically walking around with little computers now."

He added that with the range of features currently available on mobile phones, the actual calling element is one of the least significant.

Nearly 15 per cent of all mobile phones sold throughout the course of 2009 will be smartphones, according to new figures from Gartner.