And of the almost seven billion phones globally, China now has 900 million mobile users, according to IDG. Only India is even close with 811 million users. China's usage is increasing at an 11 million per month rate while India is growing by 20 million per month.
It seems unlikely that any other country is in contention for the Billion Phone Contest. The US, currently at 303 million users (in a population of 307 million) would have to have over three phones per person to reach a billion.
A Lighter Side expects that the billionth user, hopefully some teenager in suburban Xian, will get at least a 10% discount and five free smartphone apps.