[February 08, 2013]

Smartphone Markets: Worldwide Trends, Forecasts and Strategies 2012-2017

(M2 PressWIRE Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dublin - Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/tlsq23/smartphone) has announced the addition of the "Smartphone Markets: Worldwide Trends, Forecasts and Strategies 2012-2017" report to their offering.

Affordability is vital in the effort to encourage non-smartphone owners to adopt smartphones.

The smartphone industry is set to change in 2013. Emerging Asia-Pacific will receive more smartphone shipments than Europe and North America combined in 2012. The smartphone market is changing from an elitist high-end device pool to a segmented mass-market ocean of handsets.

This report provides: - The following forecasts for smartphones: - Profiles of the regional smartphone markets - Detailed analyst views on Android, iOS, Windows Phone and other OSs - Analysis of the average selling price of smartphones, and ARPU - Details of the cost of owning an iPhone 5 by operator - Smartphone retailing and pricing recommendations for operators - An impact assessment of smartphone app usage on operators and device vendors.

Data coverage - Total handsets - Smartphones - Handset connections by technology - Shipments by operating system Key Highlights: - Worldwide smartphone forecasts and OS shares: Demand-based shipment and active devices forecasts - The smartphone share of active handset SIMs will grow to just under 50% by 2017 - 1.4 billion new smartphones will enter the market in that year - Active smartphone SIMs are a better indication of the addressable smartphone user base for service providers than shipments - 75% of smartphone shipments will be upgrades in 2017 - 62% of smartphones will use 4G networks in developed markets by the end of 2017 - Emerging Asia-Pacific will drive more than a third of smartphone demand by 2017 - Central and Eastern Europe will catch up with Western Europe in terms of penetration rates, during the forecast period - Smartphone adoption will plateau in North America from 2017 onwards, with penetration flattening out at around 85% - China will have over 200 million active smartphones by the end of 2012, despite low disposable income, no subsidies and limited 3G coverage - Microsoft will ship almost as many Windows Phone units in 2017 as Apple will ship iPhones in 2012 - Chinese manufacturers will capture most of the growth from lower-end customers during 2012-2017, taking market share from other players - Samsung will be the leading Android smartphone vendor throughout the forecast period, but only by a small margin - Despite significant success, Android brings a level of fragmentation to the market, adding complexity to app development - Windows Phone will be the fastest-growing OS in terms of shipments in the next 5 years - Microsoft's Surface device range threatens Windows Phone partnerships - Worldwide smartphone forecasts and OS shares: Smartphone commoditisation - The average selling price of a smartphone declined by EUR300 from 2007 to 2011, which is threatening device profitability - Android is the primary driver of smartphone commoditisation, as a growing number of vendors adopt the OS - The response from competing OSs has been weak: Nokia's strategy is to push Symbian via low-end devices with content bundles - Operator opportunities and challenges in the smartphone market: Lowering smartphone ownership costs: handset subsidies and financing plans - Subsidies and creative tariff strategies are essential for driving high-end smartphone adoption and mobile data usage - Variations in subsidies and packages mean the minimum cost of an iPhone 5 16GB varies between EUR700 (3HK) and EUR1840 (T-Mobile USA) - Operator opportunities and challenges in the smartphone market: Monetising smartphone users: mobile data pricing and 4G - The greatest monetisation potential for operators in their smartphone user base is mobile data access - Smartphones are great drivers of data consumption but the price per gigabyte is set to decrease threatening smartphone user monetisation - If operators are to maximise smartphone monetisation, 4G adoption is paramount, but the value proposition is not always clear to consumers - Operator opportunities and challenges in the smartphone market: Managing device and OS ecosystems - Unlike other handsets, vendors and operators must provide smartphones with OS upgrades, which may have significant cost implications - If a third OS gains enough traction to compete with Android and iOS, it can create opportunities for operators to support transitioning subscribers - However, multi-device ecosystems will limit the number of transitions from one OS to another in the high-end customer segment Companies Mentioned - Acer - Alcatel Mobile Phones - AT&T - Apple - Fujitsu - Google - HTC - Huawei - Hutchison - Lenovo - LG - M1 - Micromax - Microsoft - Netflix - Nokia - Panasonic - Pantech - Research In Motion (RIM) - Samsung - Skype - Sony - Sony Mobile Communications - Spotify - Sprint - Telef nica - Telstra - Verizon Wireless - Vodafone - ZTE For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/tlsq23/smartphone CONTACT: Research and Markets, Laura Wood, Senior Manager.

press@researchandmarkets.com Fax from USA: 646-607-1907 Fax from rest of the world: +353-1-481-1716 Sector: Handsets and Mobile Devices (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/categories.asp cat_id=220&campaign_id=tlsq23) ((M2 Communications disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to info@m2.com)).

(c) 2013 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

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