Australia used to care little about wireless connectivity, but a year has made such a difference, a Google study reveals.

Google also reported the level and frequency of mobile Internet use in Australia is now very close to PC use for activities like social networking and shopping.

Google recently teamed up with IPSOS Research to interview 30,000 respondents in 30 countries about how they use their smartphones. A total of 2,000 Australians were included.

Behind Singapore, Australia has the highest smartphone penetration in the world at 37 percent. In addition, Australians use slightly more apps than Americans and British. Australians have on average 25 apps on their phones (eight of which are paid), versus 23 for the US and Britain.

"The rise of smartphones is dramatically increasing the use of the Internet overall in Australia and ... we're seeing mobile usage and smartphone usage starting to approach or even match PC usage," said Ryan Hayward, Google's mobile product marketing manager for the Asia-Pacific region.

Also found in the study is that Australians are 33 per cent more likely than those in the US and Britain to do mobile real estate searches. In mobile banking, Australians are 65 per cent more likely than the British and 14 per cent more likely than Americans to do transactions via smartphones.

Hayward believes mobile Internet usage could soon eclipse PC internet usage as 36 per cent of respondents said they expected to use the Web more on the smartphone in the future compared to 28 per cent for the PC.

"We found that with Google Maps, which is one of our marquee products, usage on the mobile phone has already exceeded the desktop globally," Hayward noted.

"The smartphone is not a toy. It's extremely fundamental and Google is adjusting to it very quickly."

Hayward attributes the small difference between mobile and PC use to social networking. Australians have developed the habit of sharing photos, updates, and other information with online friends using their mobile.

Searches are one of the most popular uses of the mobile Internet. Two in five Australians search on their smartphones daily as opposed to three in five on their PC.

Mobile Online Shopping

Mobile online shopping is also slowly becoming a habit in Australia. After a search is run, a purchase follows on the same device. PayPal Australia reports that mobile transactions in 2010 increased by 25 percent every month. This developed even as four out of five Australian Web sites have yet to be optimised for smartphones.

Recent figures from Nielsen put the total volume for the Australian mobile payments market for 2010 at $155 million.

The rise of smartphone use is quite new down under. In fact, the study showed four out of five respondents who had a smartphone said it was their first one, and one in three bought their smarpthone in the last six months.