54% of wireless customers in Canada currently own a smartphone, up from 36% in 2011, according to the J.D Power and Associates 2012 Canadian Wireless Total Ownership Experience Study.

While more customers use smartphones in 2012, compared with 2011, the study found that the brands they select are shifting. Among smartphone owners in this study, 33% use Blackberry, down from 42% in 2011. Apple (30%) and Samsung (13%) have each increased their share by 4% from 2011.

According to Ms. Brownlee Thomas, principal analyst at Forrester, the impact of mobility on the business practices of organizations will be as important as those caused by Internet.

She stated that the needs related to mobile devices and applications varied among groups of employees within an organization. Information workers are supported by the IT department and the performers of tasks have their mobile devices and applications dedicated. On the other hand, the workers concerned can use their mobile devices to work without formal IT support, while "nonconformists" select, purchase, and use their own equipment and apps for the job.

Mobile payments are set to go mainstream in the next one to four years and Canada is one of the leaders on this front.

MasterCard recently revealed the MasterCard Mobile Payment Readiness Index, which analyzed the state and adoption of mobile payments across 34 countries worldwide. The Index takes into account three types of mobile payments, which are person to person (P2P), mobile e-commerce (m-commerce), and mobile payments at the point of sale (POS). It also looks at consumer readiness, environment, financial services, infrastructure, mobile commerce clusters, and regulation.