The iPhone may be the face of the future. Smartphones like Apple’s iconic handset are on target to take 55 percent of the cell phone market value in 2010, analysts said Wednesday.
Despite a faltering general handset market, smartphones will comprise 27 percent of all handsets purchased in 2010, according to the UK analyst firm Informa. Because carriers can sell smartphones at a higher price and require expensive data plans, smartphones will grab 64 percent of mobile phone revenue, the analysts said.
“As demand for mid-tier handsets declines, competition in the smartphone segment is set to intensify,” Informa pricipal analyst Malik Kamil-Saadi said. Some blame mobile cell giant Nokia for 2009 sales. While demand is expected to increase, this year was disappointing for analysts at Gartner. The analysis firm said Nokia’s lack of attractive smartphones helped keep smartphones at 14 percent of all mobile phone sales in 2009, instead of 24 percent.
Like Informa, Gartner announced Tuesday it expects increasing smartphone sales to increase, reaching more than a third of all phones sold by 2013.
At the heart of the new challenge to traditionalists, such as Samsung and Nokia and more powerful operating systems, such as Apple’s iPhone OS and Android, the Google-made operating system used by Verizon’s Droid and other handsets.
The analysis only echos other experts who believe Apple has an edge over other handset makers. Morgan Stanley believes Apple has a two- or three-year lead on other companies, providing what it calls the “pole position” in controlling a future mobile Internet.
[Via Wall Street Journal and 9to5Mac]
