14 DAY TRIAL // According to a recently published report from Analysys Mason, the number of smartphones used around the world is expected to grow by 32 percent each year between 2010 and 2014. At the same time, the report shows that the smartphones' growth on the market will continue, and that they should account for 26 percent of all handsets by 2014.
The increase is expected to be fueled by developing markets like Asia-Pacific and Latin America, which should account for 50 percent of the growth, Analysys Mason states. However, it seems that Western European, North American and developed Asia-Pacific markets are expected to account only for less than 30 percent of the total smartphone growth. All in all, the market of converged mobile devices is set to suffer major changes over the coming years.
“Smartphone markets in the developed world will continue to be fiercely competitive, but key handset manufacturers such as Nokia and Samsung are lining-up to tap a new opportunity in emerging markets,” stated Jim Morrish, principal analyst, responsible for Analysys Mason's Mobile Content and Applications research programme and author of the report.
According to him, developed and developing markets with show differences in competitive dynamics. “The ingredients of a successful mobile data proposition in emerging markets will be different to those in developed markets, and I don't think that an iPhone will be one of them. In the medium term, Android-, bada- and Symbian OS-based devices will dominate these new markets.”
The main factor driving the growth in the smartphones market will be the consumer devices segment, and not the business-oriented ones. The former segment of the market accounts only for 10 percent of all phones, though it is expected that 40 percent of them would be smartphones by 2014. “The sheer number of residential subscriptions dictate that residential users will drive smartphone market growth,” Morrish concluded.