The demand for mobile phones of all kinds continues to rise, with handset manufacturers selling a total of 1.36 cell phones in 2010, says a report from ABI Research.
While smartphone makers such as Apple and Research in Motion (RIM) have a tiny slice of the overall cell phone market, their increasing popularity signals a shift even in developing nations towards future growth for smartphones versus "feature phones" which dominate the worldwide market now.
Nokia, who still command a leading share of the overall cell phone market, slid marginally to 31.7 percent, which the report blamed on the failure of the company to gain traction in the smartphone sector. LG, Sony-Ericsson and Motorola all lost small amounts of share, while RIM, Apple and HTC made gains across 2010.
The report says that many brands have given up trying to compete in the overall global market and are focusing on the more profitable smartphone sector alone. The resulting vacuum of low-end handsets will be filled mainly by Chinese and Indian providers -- but the big winners overall aren't any of the names already mentioned -- but rather the chip suppliers like ARM and Qualcomm, who have both had one of the best years on record due to the growing smartphone demand.
source: electronista.com
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