Smartphones in use in the world reached over 1,000 million, according to third quarter figures released by research firm Strategy Analytics Inc.  The number of smartphones in use increased by around 330 million from the third quarter of 2011 and by 79 million from the second quarter of this year.

It took 16 years to gain the first billion smartphone users, however it is expected that only three years will be needed for that number to double to 2 billion.  More smartphone penetration is expected in the future, specially in emerging markets such as China, India and Africa.