Imagine having internet access anywhere, every minute of every day. Or being able to pull up any document or presentation, and get directions to local restaurants or cafés --all without a computer.

With today's smart phones, like the Apple iphone and Nokia’s E and N range of products, all these things are possible. A recent study from EuroStat, the EU’s in-house statistical office, found that 95 out of every 100 Europeans has a mobile phone. In some countries, such as Lithuania and Finland, exclusive use of mobile phones as a primary phone has approached almost 50%.

Near perfect mobile phone saturation provides enormous opportunities for advertising.

Google, the world’s number one search engine, used by more than 80% of all EU citizens, announced recently that it has introduced brand-image ads for mobile phones, in a bid to extend beyond the computer-based web market into the emerging market for advertising on phones. The company said all mobile image ads are targeted according to the keywords users type into phones to search for information. The ads are priced on a cost-per-click basis, and must link to web pages optimised to work on mobile phones.

Networking via smartphone is also bringing people together.  Established networks like LinkedIn, xing.com and others are joining the mobile social network. The combination of advertising and social networking can give companies targeted, niche marketing possibilities that just 5 years ago were unimaginable.