Smartphones are gorging on data, causing data usage to surge by 89 percent compared to last year, reveals a Nielsen report. An average smartphone user’s data consumption has vaulted from 230 MB in Q1 2010 to 435MB in Q1 2001.

Those who belong to the top 10 percent data user demographic has consumed 109 percent more data compared to a year ago, while those on the top 1 percent has scoffed 155 percent more. This takes their 1.8GB annual consumption last year to 4.6GB this year. The surging of these data is triggered by “app-friendly” mobile operating systems from formidable players Google and Apple. On average, an Android smartphone gobbles 582MB worth of data per month, while an iPhone user consumes 492MB per month.

And let’s not forget the Windows Phone 7 platform, which is experiencing a doubling of data usage over the previous two quarters, credited to the growth apps on its Marketplace portfolio. An IDC prediction places Android in the top spot of mobile operating system dominance by the second half of 2011 with 40 percent market share, while positioning Windows Phone 7 in second place, garnering a 20 percent market share by 2015.

While these are incredible surges in data consumption, there is no increase in data consumption costs (yet). In fact, what’s happening is the other way around. “The amount the average smartphone user pays per unit of data has dropped by nearly 50 percent in the last year, from 14 cents per megabyte (MB) to a mere 8 cents,” said Nielsen in a blogpost. The data usage surge will egg on the mobile industry for more wireless spectrum.

However, the surge also has its ugly side.  The growing usage of personal and web apps has increased data consumption, as well as interest in the information being shared.  It was recently found out that Google and Apple are storing location information since April. With an open source app revealing personal data storage on individual devices, Apple users were able to see where Apple stores their information. A similar hunt was launched for Android users, and thus came the intervention of lawmakers to address the issue.  Earlier this month, two senators put forth a bill that will regulate Google and Apple’s methodology and use cases around mobile data.