GLOBAL – Looking backwards is healthy and can be entertaining, but it’s no secret that the guiltiest vice of being immersed in the mobile world is looking forward and seeing our future relationships with devices come into focus. Over the past couple of years we’ve witnessed the reality of high-speed data and Internet connectivity on the move, triggering an explosion in mobile Internet services and encouraging innovations such as location based services. Recent developments with HSDPA and the emergence of 3.5G networks has helped cement this, but already the seeds of a 4G planet are being sewed.

Reuters recently reported on Nokia Siemens Networks, stating “it would deliver fourth-generation-ready (4G) mobile network hardware to more than 10 major operators by end 2008.”

By no means does this rubber stamp a date on when the next generation of rocket-speed over-the-air downloads and uploads will become part of our day-to-day, although 2010 has faintly been penciled in. The leap to 4G promises to be far less of a monumental challenge in terms of implementation, as the infrastructures are mostly in place, but these essentially need upgrading with new hardware rather than building from scratch as was the case with the birth of 3G.

What are mobile Internet speeds like in your country, and does it affect the way you use your mobile? Is the prospect of 4G too far off to contemplate as a benefit or is it exciting? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Photo from Erik Charlton