Asia-Pacific

Sales of smart phones in Asia Pacific to grow by 2015

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-08-25 13:58

MANILA -- The increase in the popularity of mobile Internet usage will boost demand for smart phones in Asia Pacific, technology consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan said in its study.

About 54 percent of mobile phones that will be sold in the region by 2015 will be smart phones, significantly higher than the 5 percent growth posted at the end of 2009.

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This means that about 477 million units of smart phones will be sold in Asia-Pacific in 2015, and that incremental data usage from smart phones will generate over US$38 billion for operators in the Asia-Pacific region, up from just over US$1.3 billion in 2009, the study showed.

Smart phones are usually capable of third-generation or 3G connections, which allow for faster mobile Internet connection speeds. The study highlights the possible exponential growth in mobile Internet usage, which telecommunication firms need to take advantage of.

"Smart phones are critical to every operator's mobile broadband business case, as a smart phone user's average revenue per user (ARPU) typically increased by 25 to 100 percent after adoption depending on the market," Frost & Sullivan industry manager Marc Einstein said.  

"The Asia-Pacific market is particularly interesting for smart phones as there has been significant uptake in emerging markets like China, India and Indonesia, even among prepaid users," he said.

The firm said Asia-Pacific smart phone sales is rapidly increasing in all markets, as developed countries like Japan and South Korea are switching from feature phones to smart phones, while operators in emerging economies are pushing smart phones to entice users to upgrade from 2G to 3G service.

Mobile social networking has also proven to be a big driver of smart phone adoption in all Asian countries, Frost & Sullivan said.