July 21, 2008
ABI Research Predicts 2008 a Good Year for Mobile Phone Market
By Nitya Prashant, TMCnet Contributor
ABI Research (News - Alert) has released a new report entitled, “Mobile Device Market Share Analysis and Forecasts.” The new report predicts that the launch of new mobile phone products in the second half of 2008 will excite consumer interest and create a good sales graph for the mobile handset market.
In the report, company analysts looked at brands that have managed to differentiate themselves clearly from competitors, thus becoming “iconic” models. These include Apple’s (News - Alert) iPhone. Apple has just launched the second-generation of the iPhone and is expecting sales of the phone to be as good as or better than its earlier version.
According to the report, Research In Motion (RIM) is set to release new models of the BlackBerry (News - Alert). Other handset vendors are also likely to launch interesting new models. These new launches will create a lot of fresh interest in the handset industry and is likely to lead consumers into replacing their older cell phone models.
ABI Research’s director of research, Kevin Burden, stated that there has been a trend towards simplicity in the last two years. This, he says, is the one of the primary reasons for customers adopting new handsets. Burden said that the advanced technologies and applications that have been built into phones have earlier created technical or ease-of-use barriers for users that prevented them from becoming popular.
Burden added, “The trend now is about making better use of what we have rather than introducing a flood of new services and network features. That's going to go a long way towards ensuring users' acceptance of new phones and new applications."
The report also reveals that proprietary real-time operating systems are being increasingly replaced by standardized operating systems that are easier to manage for both operators and users.
The report predicted that “open” operating systems will continue to migrate down phone vendors' product lines. This in turn is expected to increase the penetration of devices using standardized and predictable platforms which in turn will advance overall ease of use.
Burden summed up the forecast for the mobile phones market this year by stating, “2008 should still be a very good year for the global mobile phone market. While Q2 performance figures are still preliminary until finalized at the end of July, early indications do not point to an aggressively weak quarter.
“Historically, the second half of the year has always outperformed the first, and despite nearly global economic problems, a second half lift is still expected, although likely lower than the near 20 percent increase the worldwide market has seen in recent years,” Burden concluded.
Nitya Prashant is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Nitya’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper is Managing Application Performance by Understanding Applications, brought to you by Shunra (News - Alert) Virtual Enterprise.
