Smartphones to reach 290 mln by 2008

The Zelos Group predicts that by 2008, sales of full-featured handsets, mobile phones that incorporate full-featured operating systems, will grow to about 290 million, or about 43% of global handset sales. Mainstream adoption of these devices will have a significant, disruptive impact on the entire mobile electronics sector - in markets for wireless, personal electronics and computing technologies. Zelos Group expects that shipments of full-feature handsets will overtake shipments of personal computers in 2006. There is no economic reason to question why growth will not be explosive. Full-featured handsets will be available from manufacturers at price points as low as $157 in 2006 close to the market average selling price for a mobile phone of about $138 in that year. Mobile handsets are the largest single consumer electronics category driving research and development in electronics, power and display technologies, and the market has become a major battleground for computing operating systems.