US : The global cellular handset market continues to grow at breakneck speed with worldwide subscribers forecast to be around 650 million subscribers by year’s end, up from 500 million at the end of 2003. As the market matures an increasing number of handsets are being equipped with advanced features that take advantage of the next generation technologies.

The market is seeing the rise of the smartphone terminal in earnest. Based on a recently published report, The Worldwide Cellular Terminal Market, 6th Edition, IMS Research is forecasting that the growth in smartphones will begin to accelerate in 2005, and that by 2009, the market will represent 175 million smartphones per annum. This represents 22% of all handsets up from 4% in 2004.

Report author, Carlos Guzmán, stated “With the long awaited commercial launch of 3G networks finally being realised in 2004 in a number of key markets and an increasing number of 3G handsets to choose from, smartphones are poised to garner an increasing share of the market. We predict that data enabled terminals will continue to grow as cameras, MP3s and other applications are incorporated into these handsets.” The report identifies the growing segmentation of the handset market by grade and applications. Guzmán added, “the cellular industry is moving to a niche market where handsets will focus on a couple of applications instead of offering a handset that can do all the applications. We expect the market in 2005 to offer an increasing selection of handsets introduced as handset manufacturers are increase their focus on individual segments of the market.”