This will be a big year for mobile technology, according to a trio of experts. Expect to see an increasing number of organizations taking advantage of smartphones, banking by cell phone and mobile store fronts.

Canadian businesses are finally getting the importance of wireless, which will make this a big year for the technology.

That was one of the predictions made by a panel of experts at the monthly MobileMonday networking evening in Toronto for people working for wireless-related companies.

Krista Napier, a senior analyst at IDC Canada covering Canadian competitive intelligence and emerging technologies predicted, that enterprises here will embrace wireless business applications more than ever, while banks will allow wireless banking for the first time.

“We expect to see the big five banks either announcing or launching their mobile banking initiatives,” Napier said in an interview after the event. “Scotiabank will be the first in the spring, and we expect the others to be making announcements later in the year." [CIBC already offers mobile banking.]