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16 December 2009 – Despite declining mobile handsets sales in 2009, smartphones continue to represent the fastest growing and most profitable segment of the mobile handset market. Informa Telecoms & Media forecasts that volume sales of these devices are to grow by 33.5% year-on-year in 2009 and by 36% in 2010. However, the importance of the smartphone segment is underlined by the fact that, although they will only account for 27% of the total number of handsets sold in 2010, they will represent over half (55%) of the value of the total mobile handset market and almost two thirds (64%) in terms of profitability.

“The strong volume growth rate and high smartphone ASPs (average selling prices) make this the most profitable segment in the current mobile phone market. In 2010, we expect profits from smartphones to represent an impressive 64% of total mobile handset market profits. As demand for mid-tier handsets declines, competition in the smartphone segment is set to intensify which is forcing manufacturers to innovate and differentiate their products in terms of hardware, software and content,” commented Malik Kamal-Saadi, Principal Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and co-author of Future Mobile Handsets report.

Attracted by the high volume growth and strong profit margins, many new entrants have entered or are entering the market. Volume market leaders like Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson, are being challenged by RIM, Apple, HTC and Palm who are significantly eroding their market share in the smartphone market. Informa Telecoms & Media expects the market share of these four challengers to jump to 35% of all smartphones sold in 2009 from 32% in 2008 and just 24% in 2007.

Key to the success of new entrants, is the adoption of new smartphone operating systems that have been built from scratch and better reflect the realities of modern mobile device requirements. In addition, they are not burdened with the support of a long legacy of devices and content already in market. However, the challenge for these players is to keep pace with innovation rather than getting trapped in the progressive OS upgrade cycles.

“Volume market leaders have responded with a multitude of me-too iPhones, offering multi-touch and an enhanced internet experience but true innovation is still lacking from many incumbent OEMs portfolios. However, under the pressure of competition some incumbents such as Nokia and Microsoft are now revamping the architecture of their OSs to keep pace with innovation and some such as Motorola, Samsung, and Sony-Ericsson are now radically changing their terminal software strategies. These players (Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, and Samsung) have opted for Google’s Android as key OS to bring innovation to their smartphone portfolios. These changes will completely transform the smartphone market landscape and could potentially lead to the emergence of new leaders in the mobile handsets market,” Kamal-Saadi concludes.

http://www.futuremobilehandsets.com

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