PC World: "Mobile Phone Sales Surge"

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115136,tk,dn031004X,00.asp

"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.

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."

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...

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115136,tk,dn031004X,00.asp

"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.

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."

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...

[Jerry Raia]

I think MS is off to a decent start. Phones are very different from PC and PDA's It will take a while to polish the features I think. I'm impressed with what is out there so far in the SmartPhone area. I really like my i600 and while it lacks the seamless aspects of some of my other cell phones it has way more capabilities than any other phone I've ever had.