Study Finds Smartphone Market Growing Rapidly

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060124005719&newsLang=en' target='_blank'>http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060124005719&newsLang=en</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Year-to-year growth in the Smartphone market in 2005 will exceed 70%, and will continue to grow robustly for the next several years, reports In-Stat (<a href="http://www.in-stat.com">http://www.in-stat.com</a>). There is a risk, however, that these devices will be seen by consumers as just very expensive feature phones, the high-tech market research firm says. A major problem is that many users do not download applications that make the devices more useful after they leave the store. "The market's growth will involve major shifts in share among the OS platforms," said Bill Hughes, In-Stat analyst. "The winners will be Microsoft and Linux. Their growth will be at the expense of Research In Motion (RIM) and PalmSource, although these organizations will continue to see their numbers grow."</i><br /><br />In-Stat also found a couple of other interesting finds in their study. The first one, is that Smartphone users, on average, don't tend to download and install applications. The medium number of applications installed by Smartphone owners is 1. I think this is just a case of not knowing any different. People aren't used to the idea of installing programs on their phone. The second interesting find is that Smartphone owners are twice as likely to own a PDA. My guess is that Smartphone owners have converted over from the PDA world and have yet to let go of their past. What do you think?

[thefunkunfaked]

I believe simple people will continue to buy simple phones.

RIM just lost, but the future for Blackberry was not so bright as it is, when stacked up against Windows Mobile (more specifically, version 5.0). Consumers who want mobile devices with features will ultimately lean towards a mobile equivalent to their PC.

I was never a fan of PDAs, due to the lack of overall features in the beginning and the lack of network mode convergence currently.

I got caught up in the whole Smartphone world with the MPX220. I recently tossed it out the window after I got the O2 XDA Exec. I try to look at it from a less biased perspective, but I cannot understand why anyone would want anything other than a Pocket PC Phone for now and for the future.

I'm actually typing this up on mine at the moment and I often use it more than my home PC these days..

[xultar]

I'm slimming down. I've had a PPc since the Newton. My current is the iPaq 4355 with a QWERTY. I'm now working on leaving my PPc @ home and I'd like to see if I can get away with my 2125 &amp; a bluetooth keyboard alone. So far so good. The phone doesn't have as much onboard memory but I lack nothing except my games.

[davidees]

I've used PDA's for the last 8 years, starting with a Philips Nino, and just switched over to a 2125. However, I like messing around with gadgets and learning how to make them work for me. 99% of the people I know find them all too complicated.