2009: When your phone becomes a Swiss army knife
It seems the world still can't get enough of new mobile handsets.
According to research from analyst house ARC Group, mobile makers will be able to enjoy a growing market for at least the next five years, with posh smart phones being a particular favourite with phone buyers. ARC Group predicts the market will grow by 16 per cent and consumers will snap up 561 million mobiles this year - compared with 482.5 million in 2003 but the growth rate will start to tail off to reach 2.6 per cent in 2009, when 767 million handsets will be sold.
The growth will come from both consumers hungry for the latest models updating their old phones in mature markets such as Europe as well as buyers in countries including China and Brazil getting mobiles for the first time.
ARC Group predicts new data technologies will increasingly start to emerge on phones - GPRS, EDGE and 3G could well play a part - and helping to turn WAP into more of a popular mobile feature than a curiosity.
