18 July 2008

Impressive Mobile Phone Products Will Drive Sales In 2008

Some impressive mobile phone product launches between now and late 2008 will drive strong sales, according to a report.

According to market research company ABI Research, 2008 will be a very good year for the global mobile phone market, thanks to some innovative product launches.

“While Q2 performance figures are still preliminary until finalized at the end of July, early indications do not point to an aggressively weak quarter. Historically, the second half of the year has always outperformed the first, and despite nearly global economic problems, a second half lift is still expected, although likely lower than the near 20% increase the worldwide market has seen in recent years,” commented Kevin Burden, an analyst for ABI Research.

One of the strongest drivers for new handset adoption is the design trend over the last two years towards greater simplicity. “A lot of advanced technologies and applications have been built into phones,” explained Burden, “but there have often been technical or ease-of-use barriers that prevented wide adoption. The trend now is about making better use of what we have rather than introducing a flood of new services and network features. That’s going to go a long way towards ensuring users’ acceptance of new phones and new applications.”

Many usability issues will also be progressively worked out as the industry increasingly moves towards standardized operating systems, according to Burden.