Mobile phone handset providers are finding it increasingly hard to up their market share, with penetration of the market rising at an alarming rate and forcing vendors and operators to look towards new features and supported services to rekindle growth over the next five years.
In its new report, Informa Telecoms & Media predicts handset sales to rise at a reduced rate from now until 2010, forecasting the technology to reach 889 million by 2010, up just 156 million from 743 million in 2005.
In order to boost this forecast, Informa claims that service providers must look towards offering other features, such as music players and mobile television, with the report claiming that digital media broadcasting receivers on handsets could be an important revenue maker.
v The number of mobile phone users has risen year on year. Informa expects there to be over 2.7 billion global mobile users by 2010, primarily boosted by India and China, with the Asia Pacific region contributing almost half of the mobile subscribers globally, rising to 1.3 billion in 2005, up from 843 million last year.
The report also reveals that by 2010, subscribers to 2G technologies will still hold top share at 46.5%, followed by 2.5G at 29.6%. Third generation (3G) technology however, will have reached a share of almost 23.8% by this stage however, as a full migration to these networks starts to take affect in developed regions.
Informa also states that there is a massive potential for integrated camera phones, with 301 million expected to be sold in 2005, rising to 691 million worldwide by 2010.
Other advances in handset features surround those with music and media capabilities, with Informa adding that as 3G networks reach greater penetration, downloading music files to the handset and high quality audio streaming will become more popular.
Commenting on the forecasts, Dave McQueen, senior analyst and principal author of the report said: “The mobile market has developed substantially over the last 18 months, particularly with the eventual take off of 3G networks in Europe and in North America following the lead taken by Japan and Korea.”
He continued: “The migration from 2G to 3G is likely to be accompanied by dramatic changes in the industry value chain, with the mobile handset community increasingly shifting its focus from voice to data services support. These new trends are changing the industry landscape and creating many new and exciting investment opportunities.”
In order to stay ahead, Informa claims that leading players need to differentiate their products by means of new technologies. Standards, alliances and partnerships also need to be created throughout the technology value chain, to ensure that technology diversity does not result in unwanted market fragmentation.
According to Juniper Research, worldwide mobile TV revenues are predicted to increase rapidly before the end of the decade, peaking at $7.6 billion in 2010, up for an estimated $136 million this year (see Mobile TV Set For Massive Revenue Growth).
Related Links
