Mobile Computing News

Photo: Apple

Mobile phones, perhaps more than any other modern technology, have changed the world in immeasurable ways, having more market penetration than anything preceding them. So much so, that according to Wireless Intelligence, there are over 5 billion mobile phone connections worldwide.

One billion added in 18 months

With over 5 billion mobile phones sold through to homes in the last 15 years or so, one would think the industry would be approaching saturation. Not so, apparently, with Wireless Intelligence reporting one billion of these mobile phone connections have been established in the last 18 months alone. What’s more, Wireless Intelligence predicts worldwide connections will swell to six million by mid-2012. That’s enough mobile phones connections to cater to 6/7ths of the planet’s population. Mind blowing. What’s remarkable is that in many regions worldwide, penetration is at the maximum 100 per cent, with many mobile phones users having more than one connection simultaneously.

Emerging markets account for growth

Africa, which has historically suffered from a lack of technological proliferation, has seen mobile phones penetration reach 52 per cent across the continent. Stated differently, more than one in every two people on the continent has mobile connections of some form.

Photo: Sony Ericsson

But the bulk of the growth is down to the Asia-Pacific, most prominently China and India, who account for 47 per cent of worldwide mobile connections ending June 2010. This, admittedly, follows population trends, when considering the two aforementioned countries are home to over two billion people.

Smartphones grow, feature phones shrink

Another trend that has been identified and will likely only increase is the speed at which smartphones are replacing feature phones. While the late 90s and very early 2000s saw stalwarts like the Nokia 3310 and the Motorola Razr dominate their respective market places, phones like the iPhone 4, Blackberries and the HTCs dominate today’s news and mobile connections trends.

Either which way, mobile phones are big business, and with a reported 10 billion plus sold since 1994 (3.4 billion by Nokia alone, mind you), mobile phones may be the highest selling consumer electronics device category of all time.