The popularity of smartphones doesn’t show any signs of slowing down yet. According to an In-Stat study, the total number of smartphones shipped is likely to increase to 850 million by 2015 and to one billion soon after. The firm further says about 65 per cent of all smartphones will use wideband CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) networks served by companies such as Intel, Nokia, and Samsung. Long Term Evolution is likely to be used by a small minority, says the report.
According to In-Stat, Android and Symbian based smartphones will see most growth.
“There are several critical factors that drive smartphone success,” says analyst Allen Nogee, “These include a powerful browser; a wide variety of apps; an easy to navigate user interface and a good keyboard or touchscreen. In addition, other intangible attributes such as being ‘fashionable’ and that ‘your friends have one’ are important.”
Microsoft seems to be behind in the race even though devices that run on Windows Phone OS are popular among enterprise customers.