A recent Fortune report has added to an array of highly optimistic 2011 mobile and smartphone growth predictions. Amid the items: handset prices are expected to plummet, Asia anticipates see immense mobile growth in the coming year, and Android is in the spotlight.

“In 2011, we might see half a billion phones sold worldwide. Smartphones will likely blow by traditional computers next year as the way most of the world gains access to the Internet.

It is interesting to note that Broadcom is marketing this hardware specifically at Android OEMs, though theoretically any smartphone OS could be built on top of it. Android is clearly the platform for growth on the low end.”

Low end, of course, means cheaper, and Broadcom’s BCM2157 chipset (alongside others) may lower the retail price of devices utilizing this technology to under $100 retail, potentially as low as $75. Android is backed by some optimistic predictions; Apple’s premium-prices products, however forecast a poor chance to keep up with the booming market.

In our previous coverage of mobile reports about the near future, we covered among others IDC’s prediction of tremendous personal and mobile cloud growth. This growth is not something Google, Apple, and RIM don’t intend to be a part of. We covered Android’s cautious lead over a developing market, RIM’s Q3 report which indicated a 40% growth in sales and the intensifying competition between mobile platforms and smartphones, including the iPhone with a 28% share of the mobile market.