Multimedia and technologically advanced mobile phones are increasing in popularity in the Asia-Pacific, with declining prices fuelling consumer up-take.
Over half of the phones shipped within the region in 2005 had camera functions. In-Stat expects this trend to continue, reaching 67% of the mobile phone market by 2009.
Commenting on the findings, Victor Liu, In-Stat analyst, said: “Digital cameras, including both digital still cameras and video cameras, will remain the most popular function of cutting edge phones.”
Elsewhere, eMarketer projects that 3 million US consumers will watch TV programming on their mobile phones in 2006, up from 1.2 million in 2005. By 2009, the analyst expects there will be 15 million video viewers, an estimated 6.2% of total mobile subscribers (see US Mobile TV Subscriptions To Hit 15 Million By 2009).
Meanwhile, Juniper Research predicts worldwide mobile television revenues to increase rapidly before the end of the decade, peaking at $7.6 billion in 2010, up from an estimated $136 million this year (see Mobile TV Set For Massive Revenue Growth).
This trend is mirrored in the UK, with results from the Oxford Mobile TV trial (see UK Consumers Keen For Mobile TV) and a similar study from BT both revealing a high level of interest from consumers in a commercial mobile TV service (see BT Reveals Consumer Interest In Mobile TV).
Meanwhile, In-Stat’s new Cutting-Edge Mobile Handsets in Asia report also found that phones with music-playing capabilities accounted for 23% of phones sold in the Asia-Pacific, 9.4 percentage points above the global average of 13.6%.
Mobile phone music functionality is excepted to improve dramatically over the next three years, with In-Stat claiming that mobile phone handsets will be in direct competition with stand-alone music players.
According to recent figures from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), worldwide sales of music via the internet and mobile phones generated sales of $1.1 billion in 2005, up from just $380 million in 2004 (see Global Digital Music Sales Reach $1.1 Billion In 2005).
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