It seems those projecting ever-rising totals for both smartphone ownership have moved beyond simply tagging a high number onto a year, instead looking to detail the reasons behind said growth.

The latest report published by Forrester certainly has the big numbers box ticked: the body believes 1 billion people across the globe will own a smartphone by 2016 – equal to around one seventh of the world's current population.

It's not games that will drive this growth, however, but rather the business sector.

Business matters

Forrester claims 350 million business men and women will own a smartphone by 2016 – 35 percent of the smartphone industry's entire userbase.

It's growth that will only occur, however, if businesses appreciate just what an opportunity smartphones represent.

"Mobile is the new face of engagement," said principle analyst Ted Schadler.

"Businesses should stop thinking about it as a small web site on a tiny computer, and start thinking about mobile as being deeply embedded systems of engagement. That turns out to have huge implications."

This new - and typically not game savvy - audience will help send the app economy soaring.

Spending in the app market will top $56 billion by 2016, reports Forrester – that's well in excess of estimates from others firms, with IHS Screen Digest having recently projected annual industry-wide app revenues of around $8.75 billion by 2015, with 64 percent derived from in-app purchases.

[source: New York Times]