Wireless Headsets Featured Article
In-Stat: Global Wireless Phone Sales May Reach $250 Billion by 2011
May 17, 2006
By Mae Kowalke
TMCnet Contributor
High-tech research firm In-Stat predicts in a new report that the global market for wireless handsets will grow 23 percent (to more than $136 billion) during 2006, and may exceed $250 billion by 2011.
That is, if everything goes as expected.
In-Stat noted in a press release that the projected growth is not guaranteed. Instead, “it depends upon phone manufacturers continuing to add features that consumers value and that the rest of the industry can support.”
Carriers and manufacturers, In-Stat said, face the challenge of adding features that wireless handset users want without driving up costs to consumers or making wireless technology more complex.
“Consumers seem ready to embrace other new features, including location-based services and Bluetooth connectivity, but only a narrow segment have interest in multimedia features and camera phone use will see a decline,” the research firm said.
In-Stat analyst Bill Hughes predicted that a big trend during the next five years will be adoption of wireless phones as a mobile wallet.
Hughes also commented that, “The primary changes in phones over the next five years are that they will become more capable, incorporate beefier security, and be more targeted as organizations have greater involvement in the wireless service decisions of their employees. Perhaps more importantly, they will help us be safer.”
In the course of its research, In-Stat also found that:
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SmartPhone sales will reach more than 480 million units by 2011.
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Motorola (News - Alert) tops the list of popular phone brands among survey respondents who obtained their phone through work.
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Worldwide mobile phone sales will increase from 935 million units in 2006 to more than double that in 2011.
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Mae Kowalke previously wrote for Cleveland Magazine in Ohio and The Burlington Free Press in Vermont. To see more of her articles, please visit Mae Kowalke’s columnist page.
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