Jason Dunn
03-11-2004, 02:00 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115136,tk,dn031004X,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115136,tk,dn031004X,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div>"Replacement demand in mature markets, in addition to higher-than-expected growth in emerging markets, saw mobile phone unit sales rise by 20.5 percent in 2003, according to a study published by Gartner. Worldwide unit sales reached 520 million in 2003. The strength of the pick-up in sales, after a sluggish 2002, was amazing, Gartner principal analyst Ben Wood says. "In the mature markets, a lot of people last bought phones in 2000 or 2001, and so we're reaching the sweet spot for replacement. People want smaller, sexier, color products," he says.<br /><br />People also want options such as cameras in their phones, and new purchases are as much about fashion as technology, Wood says. In emerging markets, just having a phone is a status sign, and so the markets are more cost driven but are still growing fast, he says."<br /><br />If nothing else, this article underscores how large the mobile phone market is, and why Microsoft wants to get into it so badly. PDAs are just a drop in the bucket compared to 520 million phones sold in 2003 alone...