Dueling smartphones photo by Su-Hwan Pyo.
Rise of the smartphone
As smartphones go mainstream and consumers ditch the flip phones of yesteryear, IMSResearch says that 420 million smartphones will be sold this year which supplants roughly 25% of all un-smartphones (traditional phones). The report predicts that one billion smartphones will sell by 2016.
It is obvious by the report that Apple and Samsung are on top and projected to remain rising stars while Nokia is projected to see a dramatic drop with RIM BlackBerry not far behind.
IMSResearch reports, “Of the traditional handset manufacturers, Samsung has demonstrated the best results in recent years. Capitalizing on its diverse portfolio – which includes devices using the company’s own bada operating system along with Android and Windows Mobile – as well as its highly popular Galaxy series, Samsung smartphone market share increased from about three percent in 1Q 2010 to over 13 percent in 1Q 2011. At the same time smaller, dedicated smartphone vendors such as HTC have seen their position rise dramatically.”
Adios, dumbphones
The projected rise of some smartphones is not only a predictor of the success or failure of specific carriers, but serves as a reminder that there is a large segment of consumers that have not yet purchased a smartphone. Some believe the segment that has waited this long will likely gravitate toward less expensive smartphone devices on the lower end market. This vulnerability in the market is less simple to predict (although signs point to LG, according to the report), as the wave of the remaining billion hasn’t joined the smartphone world yet, but 2011 sales should help gather more data to make safer predictions.
