Mobile phones have been able to access the internet for several years. But the

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service has not been a raging success. The reason: high cost of access. Telecom operators charge on the basis of downloads or surfing, which can be expensive. Some have started charging on flat rate basis, which is expected to boost internet use.

Internet giant Google believes that plans which allow unlimited internet access will see more than four times increase for mobile users in 2010. In 2009, Google Search on the mobile saw a quadruple growth in mobile users compared to the previous two years combined.

Product manager, Mobile at Google India Alok Goel said, “At present, we estimate there are 25 million mobile internet users in India, compared with about 8-10 million such users at the beginning of 2009.”

These numbers are based on extrapolation of data collected from people using Google websites and Google applications.

In 2008, there was a perception that India is a low-end market and it would take years for people to graduate to using mobile internet services.

Google saw a sudden spike in mobile internet traffic during the first half of 2009, when mobile operators such as Aircel started offering unlimited access for less than Rs 100 a month.

According to Goel, “Offering unlimited mobile internet at such a price was something unheard of. All these schemes were in the range of Rs 600-Rs 700. The flat data plan has erased the ambiguity and fear from the users mind about being over charged for usage”.

According to a Google study, a typical Indian user’s life starts with news, goes on with business/work and ends up in entertainment. Google classifies search users into two – power users, who use search on a daily basis, and occasional users, who use search once a fortnight or a month.

The company says that a large number of power users have migrated to Google Mobile Apps. In the past few months, the company has seen a strong uptick in the usage of orkut on mobile by young users. Google has a range of applications for mobile, such as Google Mobile App, Image Search, Maps, Latitude, and Mobile News.

Google Mobile App, which offers access to Google Search, GMail, Maps and Orkut, is equipped with speech recognition technology designed to understand Indian accents. In addition, this application is location aware and enables users to access latest news.

In Google Maps (see anchor story) geographic information on landmarks, such as petrol stations, banks, schools, railway stations, bus stops, local businesses, traffic circles and signals and available at your fingertips. By using Google Latitude in conjunction with Google Maps, you can share your location with other people.