Number of mobile devices to hit 8 billion by 2016, Cisco says

If there were any doubt the world is going mobile, it should be tossed out the window today.

A Cisco Systems' forecast, released today, claims that by 2016, there will be over 8 billion handheld or "personal mobile-ready" devices operating globally. In addition, nearly 2 billion "machine-to-machine" connections, including GPS systems and medical applications, will be in use.

All those devices will drive mobile data traffic up 18-fold, reaching 10.8 exabytes per month, or 130 exabytes a year, by 2016, according to the Cisco report officially dubbed the Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast.

To put these figures into perspective, 130 exabytes is equal to 33 billion DVDs, 4.3 quadrillion MP3 files, or 813 quadrillion text messages. This year, Cisco expects just 1.3 exabytes to be used each month.

Some of the world's top carriers are struggling to keep up with mobile data demands, and major companies, like Verizon and AT&T, have instituted tiered plans to ratchet back user consumption of mobile data.