Powerful mobile phones 'are being used this year'

The chief executive officer of Google has highlighted the role that sophisticated mobile phones will play in 2009.

Speaking to Fox Business Network, Eric Schmidt commented on the "enormously powerful" nature of the current crop of smartphones and explained how this is relevant to the search engine giant.

Pointing out that people are using their mobile phone browsers to carry out internet searches and click through adverts, Mr Schmidt stated: "From our perspective, this is the year when mobile data takes off, mobile browsing takes off."

He called 2009 "the year of mobile phones".

Mr Schmidt also noted that advertisers may want to include mobiles in their online strategy.

One powerful mobile phone that has recently been announced is the iPhone 3G S.

Manufacturer Apple says that it is the fastest iPhone to date and draws attention to numerous features - including a digital compass that makes use of Google Maps and GPS technology, voice control for calling and playing music and accessibility for people with sight or hearing problems.

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