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Mobile Subscribers To Reach 2.6 Billion |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Wednesday, 15 November 2006 |
The number of mobile phone subscribers is growing. Fast. It will reach
the 2.6 billion mark this year before nearly doubling in three years to
reach 4 billion by 2010.
The numbers, according market researcher iSuppli
are of course being driven by the speedy take up of new subscribers in
developing countries - particularly India and China. Other developing
markets of note are Africa and the Middle East, though, says the
researcher.
But the growth is not entirely organic. As a bit of background, the GSM
Association challenged handset manufacturers to come up with a low-cost
handset alternative for these countries and the manufacturers responded,
no doubt seeing the huge market potential.
Motorola in particular benefited winning a contract to supply the
mobile phones to network operators in emerging markets such as China,
India and Bangladesh as well as Russia, which all put in orders for
millions of the handsets under a GSMA sponsored program.
These affordable "$30" handsets paved the way for massive uptake in
India and China, but it doesn't end there. The GSMA has a goal to
reduce handset cost even further, according to the report, and is
aiming for US$15 handsets by 2008.
With silicon the biggest cost in handset manufacture it comes down to
chipmakers like Texas Instruments, MediaTek, and Infineon to develop
more cost effective solutions.
While they say the $15 handset is achievable, this year, the cheapest we are likely to see is US$20.
Meanwhile, another research outfit, this time In-Stat, says the Asia
Pacific market for smartphones is getting ready for take-off. It is
predicting that smartphone sales will double this year over last as the
devices enter "the mass adoption stage".
That equates to 18.8 million smartphones sold in the APAC region during
2006. That's nothing compared to their forecast for the future which
says smartphone shipments will be nudging 65 million by the end of the
decade.
"Major
smartphone makers are providing better design, better functionality,
and better cost structures, thus offering better product pricing and a
long-term plan for product portfolios," says Victor Liu Zhoujiao,
In-Stat analyst.
The research is also predicting that more smartphone models will enter
the market, but fewer variations of smartphone OSs are expected. That's
something we are already witnessing.
This growht to 64.2 million
devices in 2010 is being driven by continuous functional improvements
such as the introduction of middle-range models, better designs, the
enrichment of third-party applications, and the popularity of
high-speed wireless connectivity in public and private locations, says
In-Stat.
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