Smartphone penetration will reach 38% of mobile users and 28.8% of the overall population by the end of this year, according to new eMarketer data. The number of smartphone users is set to increase 49.6% this year to 90.1 million.

eMarketer estimates that Asia-Pacific mobile internet users will nearly double from 623.3 million in 2011 to more than 1.22 billion in 2015.

Asia-Pacific is economically diverse, but universally high mobile usage unites the region. Moreover, these users are increasingly looking at their phones as a first screen, whether to download media, access the internet or communicate with peers—and marketers—via SMS. Mobile-first and mobile-only web access is narrowing the divide between Asia-Pacific’s advanced and developing economies, and likewise changing how marketers in the region approach digital.

A complete report, Asia-Pacific Mobile: Redefining the Digital Landscape, is available to eMarketer Total Access clients. Learn more here.

Here are a few of the top stories in which eMarketer data and analysis were featured this week:

8/5: Forbes.com – How 2011 Can Still Become The Year Of Mobile For Advertisers
According to an Interactive Advertising Bureau survey, a third of affluent consumers are willing to share their information online in exchange for a more personalized experience. This is not surprising. Read more.

8/5: paidContent.com – How The Plunging Financial Markets Will Impact Ad Spending
Throughout the past six months, global ad spending forecasts haven’t been revised down that much. Meanwhile, online ad growth has continued to look resilient. Read more.

8/4: AdAge.com – Twitter Advertising: Four Marketers on How Their Campaigns Fared
Considering that Twitter did not offer advertising until it was nearly 4 years old, the company has ramped up its ad business quite rapidly since April 2010. By the end of 2010, Twitter had partnered with 150 companies for advertising campaigns on the site, said Dick Costolo’s presentation at the All Things Digital D9 conference in June. Read more.

8/4: USA Today – Web tracking has become a privacy time bomb
The coolest free stuff on the Internet actually comes at a notable price: your privacy. For more than a decade, tracking systems have been taking note of where you go and what you search for on the Web — without your permission. Read more.

8/3: Wall Street Journal – New Metrics Gauge Heft of Facebook Ads
Facebook Inc. is getting its own ratings systems, in an effort to help companies measure the marketing exposure their brands receive on the social-networking website. Read more.

8/2: MediaPost.com – Google+ Creates Data Gold Mine For Advertisers
The data Google collects from Google+ should increase the effectiveness for conversions and ad targeting. The overall result could become an increase in click-throughs and a rise in cost per clicks. Read more.

8/2: Adweek.com – Breaking Down Condé Nast’s E-Sales
Magazine subscriptions became available on the iPad this spring, and the first meaningful set of results are out, with Condé Nast announcing that it’s drawn 242,000 digital customers through Apple’s iTunes store in the six weeks since it introduced iPad subs. Read more.

8/2: Wall Street Journal – Funding Values Twitter at $8.4 Billion
Twitter Inc. said it received a “significant” round of funding led by Digital Sky Technologies, a Russia-based venture firm that has invested in other social-networking companies that have enjoyed surging valuations. Read more.

8/1: Guardian – Arty video favourite Vimeo adds small business service
There have largely been two tribes in the online video space until now: free, consumer video sharing sites and high-end, fairly expensive enterprise services. Read more.

8/1: VentureBeat.com – PayPal: 12M monthly users are paying for virtual goods
More than 12 million unique users pay for virtual goods each month, according to data released for the first time today by digital payments vendor PayPal. Read more.

8/1: AdAge.com – Why the Pipes Are Broken in Mobile Advertising
Embarking on a mobile ad buy is diving into a dark, deep sea crammed full of startups you’ve likely never heard of: Celtra, Mojiva, Medialets, inMobi, just to name a few. It’s brimming with a lot of little companies — and a couple of big stakeholders like Apple and Google — scrambling to build the infrastructure to make advertising work in a medium that some have said will be bigger than TV. Read more.

8/1: VentureBeat.com – Rich folks are suckers for digital media (and online ads)
Digital media and online advertisements are the best way to reach the wealthiest Americans, according to a study released today by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Read more.

7/31: New York Post – Foursquare sets revenue plan
Foursquare is looking to cash in on all those check-ins. The social network, which has been known for having a fast-growing footprint — more than 10 million members have checked in more than 750 million times to about 15 million venues worldwide, and a healthy valuation, $600 million after its recent $50 million round of financing — but very little revenue, is now ready to pump up its top line, The Post has learned. Read more.

For more of eMarketer’s recent news coverage, click here.

Android usage exploded in 2010, experiencing a 496% growth in users and obtaining 24% of the US smartphone market, according to eMarketer data published in June 2011. Android usage will continue to grow this year, achieving 42% growth in users and 28% market share. Meanwhile, Apple will hold steady with 31% growth in users and 30% share in 2011.

“The open-source Android OS requires no licensing fee and allows handset manufacturers and wireless carriers considerable latitude to customize the user interface according to their desired specifications,” said Noah Elkin, eMarketer principal analyst. “With a growing roster of manufacturer and carrier partners in every major market and market segment, scale for Android is coming quickly in terms of device, market share, apps and ad revenues.”

A complete report, Smart and Getting Smarter: Key Mobile Device Trends for Marketers, is available for eMarketer Total Access clients. Click here to learn more.

eMarketer estimates that after exploding from just 6% of the US smartphone market in 2009 to 24% in 2010, Android will continue to gain share through 2011, when 28% of all smartphone users will own a device running the Google OS. Meanwhile, Apple’s share of the market will hold steady at 30% through 2012.

Note: Smartphones are any voice handset with an advanced operating system (e.g., iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, etc.) and features/capabilities that resemble a PC.

A complete report, Smart and Getting Smarter: Key Mobile Device Trends for Marketers, is available exclusively for eMarketer Total Access clients. Click here to learn more.