IDC says that the number of people using mobile technologies at work will top one billion this year. This will be helped by 4G wireless, soon to be a reality for many businesses as Sprint’s WiMAX network gets out the gate and other Canadian and US carriers follow with LTE.

In the United States Sprint, the current 4G leader, says it will introduce its first 4G smartphone before mid-year. And by the end of the year the addition of Houston, New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington will expand the footprint to include 120 million people.

That said, Forbes recently reported that Sprint's new 4G smartphone will launch during the "first half of 2010, a few months earlier than many expected." 4G wireless operates at speeds up to 10 times greater than today's 3G networks, and offers enough speed that multiple users can get decent throughput using their own Wi-Fi connected to the wireless hotspot.

The handset will likely be dual mode (3G and 4G), made by HTC, and be based upon Google's Android operating system.

While Sprint's 4G is built on WiMAX technology, other US and Canadian carriers will introduce their 4G networks later this year using LTE.

Key to all of this will be powerful smartphones that take full advantage of 4G bandwidth, up to 10mb/s, for interactive and media rich applications. Business will ride the consumer app wave, developing technologies like mobile telepresence and on-demand training for 4G handsets.

According to IDC, by 2011 some 1.2 billion workers will be utilizing mobile enterprise tools, representing roughly one third of the total global workforce.

In its study, 'Worldwide Mobile Worker Population, 2009-2013,' IDC forecasts that the US will remain in the lead globally with 75.5%, or 119.7 million workers, mobile by 2013. This will be up from 72.2% of all workers in 2008.

"Outside the United States and Japan, where mobile worker population penetration has essentially peaked, there are large worker populations that are still growing," said IDC research analyst Sean Ryan.

"Underserved mobile workers across all regions stand to benefit from the reach and flexibility offered by mobile solutions."

Among the fastest-growing regions, according to IDC, are the Asia-Pacific region, which it says could represent 62% of all global workers by 2013. The numbers are expected to receive a boost from strong economic recovery and new found interest in unified communications, the report said.