Informa says that the sale of smart phones will rise by 36 percent in the coming year, the devices will account for 27 per cent of the total handsets sold, 55 per cent of the value of the total handset market and 64 per cent in terms of profitability.

Informa, the telecom and media forecast company has indicated that with the surge in demand for smartphones in the market, it is believed that the gadgets will account for more than half of the total handset market value in 2010.

The company also declared that the sale of smartphones is anticipated to augment by 33.5 percent year-on-year in 2009 and by 36 per cent in 2010. It has also been revealed that though the smartphones only account for 27 per cent of the total number of handsets that will be sold next year, they will represent 55 per cent of the value of the total handset market and 64 per cent in terms of profitability.

Informa principal analyst and co-author of Future Mobile Handsets, Malik Kamal-Saadi reports said: “The strong volume growth rate and high smartphone ASPs (average selling prices) make this the most profitable segment in the current mobile phone market. In 2010, we expect profits from smartphones to represent an impressive 64 per cent of total mobile handset market profits.

“As demand for mid-tier handsets declines, competition in the smartphone segment is set to intensify which is forcing manufacturers to innovate and differentiate their products in terms of hardware, software and content.”

The industry analyst also ascertained that the Goliaths of mobile manufacturing industry like RIM, Apple, HTC and palm are going to give fierce competition to the other market players like Nokia,   Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericsson. It revealed that the four bigwigs are capture the market share of 35 per cent of all smartphones sold in 2009 from 32 per cent in 2008 and 24 per cent in 2007.

The company also indicated that there are a lot of expectations from these smartphones. Therefore, in order to live up to them and gain grounding in the market, the smartphones shall adopt the new smartphone operating systems that have been built from scratch and better reflect the realities of modern mobile device requirements.

Informa also added that the new smart phones are fortunate as they are not burdened with support of a long legacy of devices and content already in market, however, the challenge for these players is to keep up with the pace of  innovation rather than getting trapped in the progressive OS upgrade cycles.

Kamal-Saadi added: “Volume market leaders have responded with a multitude of me-too iPhones, offering multi-touch and an enhanced internet experience but true innovation is still lacking from many incumbent OEMs’ portfolios.

“However, under the pressure of competition some incumbents such as Nokia and Microsoft are now revamping the architecture of their OSs to keep pace with innovation and some such as Motorola, Samsung, and Sony-Ericsson are now radically changing their terminal software strategies. These players (Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, and Samsung) have opted for Google’s Android as key OS to bring innovation to their smartphone portfolios. These changes will completely transform the smartphone market landscape and could potentially lead to the emergence of new leaders in the mobile handsets market.”

The mobile operator announces the service at a cost of £9.99 a month for an array of mobile phones

The mobile operator 3 has pleasantly surprised the music lovers by announcing to extend its Spotify service on an array of mobile phones on the Symbian and Android platforms.

The mobile operator announced a Spotify tariff available on HTC Hero in November. It has now extended its service and declared that the contract consumers will be able to download the Spotify for Symbian application.

The service will be available on a range of handsets that include Nokia handsets and Sony Ericsson satio. The customers will be able to avail the new music application at a cost of £9.99 a month for six months.

A 3 spokesman said: ‘We are excited to announce the launch the Spotify for Symbian application for a number of phones available on 3. Existing contract customers will be able to download the Spotify for Symbian  application via Planet3.

‘This application will give even more of our customers access to Spotify’s vast music catalog of 6 millions plus tracks via their 3 mobile. All this music for £9.99 per month over 6 months.

‘Bringing the Spotify for Symbian application to 3, extends the partnership signed in November. Spotify Mobile is a compelling music service that gives consumers the ability to share and enjoy music on their phone. Yet again, this award winning music service is being brought to 3UK customers in an affordable package.’

The application is currently available on the following mobile handsets – Nokia 5800, Nokia 6220 classic, Nokia E63,  Nokia E71, Nokia N86, Nokia N95,  Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N96, Nokia N97 and Sony Ericsson Satio

Spotify is an online music streaming service and is available on the iPhone and Android as an application.

The third largest mobile phone retailer in UK has its sights set on Intek communication and expanding its retail estate to over 100 shops in the coming year

The independent mobile phone dealer based in Midlands, Go Mobile is contemplating to embrace an expansion plan in 2010. The dealer has its eyes set on expanding its retail estate to over 100 shops in 2010 following the purchase of  fellow retailer and Intek Communications for an undisclosed amount. Go Mobile has divulged that post the Intek deal, the retailer is looking forward to increase its store count by 24 shops in the South West.

Presently, Go Mobile has 80 shops that are sprawled all over UK. With this count, the retailer proudly assumes the position of third biggest independent mobile phone retail footprint in the country. While Carphone warehouse and Phones4U take the first and second position respectively.

Nil Naik, Go Mobile managing director said: “We have great innovation coupled with national marketing planned for 2010. We will expand the estate further to over 100 shops and take advantage of some industry wide changes next year.”

Manny Hussain, Intek managing director said: “This creates a unified brand of some 80 retail shops and makes absolute commercial sense for us. It provides better security and terms for our retail people and secures their futures.

“We will retain a shareholding interest but it will allow Intek to focus in 2010 on our online businesses and on our corporate sales arm, Simple Mobile Solutions – areas where we have made great strides in 2009.”

Iain Humphrey, chief executive of Go Mobile parent Shebang, said: “This decision caps off a fine year for us. It is an obvious decision and a good fit for us giving Go Mobile a nationwide brand and presence.”

Humphrey added: “Having worked closely with Intek for a considerable number of years, I felt it to be a great addition to the Go Mobile chain, which enjoyed a fantastic recovery in the last 12 months under Nil Naik and his team and invigorated our interest in retail.

“We have learnt a great deal through our experience from working closely with Orange Retail and this has equipped us to deliver the highest quality with good numbers into 2010 and beyond. We have some big ambitions and a fantastic opportunity. I now believe that a lot of people within Intek will achieve great success in this new environment and welcome them to Go Mobile”.

Retail staff believes that mobile phone buyers would prefer buying the device from specialist stores.

The mobile phone dealers and the retail staff who have the onus of trotting out the device in the UK market are a tad skeptical about the ability of the super market giant Tesco to sell the gadget. Tesco declared to start offering the smart mobile phone from 14 th Dec 09.

The staff members and the people who are indulged in the selling of I-phone in the indirect and retail channels affirmed that they are not worried that Tesco would eat up their share in the market rather they believe that mobile users would not prefer going to a supermarket to grab a ‘specialized product’ like a smart Apple phone .

O2 and Carphone’s staff members assert that there is a specialized place for every specific product. They said that they are quite confident that the mobile buyers would choose to buy the specialized device from specialist stores instead of buying them from a supermarket.

An O2 staffer said: ‘It won’t make any difference to us – the other networks getting it has not had any impact. If customers want that type of phone they won’t go to the supermarket.’

Another added: ‘It’s a specialised phone and if they [customers] have problems, they want first-hand advice.’

Meanwhile, an array of people are not supporting Tesco’s plan of selling I-phone  on a 12 month contract. If customers pay £222 up front for an iPhone 3G, they can get the device on a £20 per month, one year contract – the cheapest tariff on the market.

According to an independent retailer said: ‘The key thing for Tesco will be whether they can retain the customers beyond 12 months.’

However,  Shaun Collins, the MD of CCS Insight said that Tesco could also be correct in its offering and that it could possibly be the forerunner in the game as, Apple is likely to ‘refresh’ the iPhone next year, which would make a two year contract more difficult to sell.

Collins said: ‘The 12 month contract is important because we are expecting a refresh of the iPhone in 2010 and the two year contract on the iPhone is going to become increasingly difficult to sell.’

He added that Tesco Mobile’s tariff structure, which also includes a £60, 24 month contract, was just ‘moving the deck chair’, rather than a price war move.

The telecom company XLN appoints 20:20 to seek dispatch and processing services along with distribution of a range of products for XLN’s new mobile proposition.

20:20, the sought after mobile distributor in UK has been appointed by XLN telecom to provide a new branded order processing and dispatch service for mobile phones, SIM cards and broadband dongles for the telecom provider’s new mobile proposition. The distributor would also be disseminating a range of products to XLN’s business customers.

Both the telecom company and the distributor have entered into an agreement that holds 20:20 responsible for supplying a range of business handsets from Nokia and Sony Ericsson to mobile broadband dongles and branded XLN Mobile SIM cards for the telecom company. The agreement also states that XLN mobile team on receiving the orders will swiftly pass them on to 20:20, who would then dispatch the order the same day, the order is placed. Via the services of 20:20, XLN is musing to tender services to its more than 120,000 existing XLN business customers.

The managing director of 20:20 UK, James Browning, said: “We were very pleased to be awarded the contract by XLN as it is a testament to the high quality service we provide and our industry reputation. 20:20 Mobile already provides similar services for other major providers of mobile phone services and our expertise and knowledge means that we are able to customize our services to XLN’s requirements.”

Edward North, XLN commercial director said: “We selected 20:20 Mobile following a tender process because of its strong market reputation for back up and support services as well as its close links to other companies in the industry.

“When we began looking for a business partner we wanted to ensure we were able to offer our customers the highest quality of service possible in the market. 20:20 Mobile has a reputation for excellence in the industry and its technical and distribution skills mean that our customers receive their new mobiles as quickly as possible backed up with a major network support.”

The mobile phones and the other range of products that will be distributed by 20:20 on behalf of XLN will include a wholesome range of branded XLN support materials including welcome and connection information as well as branded packaging wherever needed.

New figures from Ofcom reveals that in the year 2007, the time spent by the British households on their landline, mobile phone and broadband services was much more than that in 2007.

Now, the average UK household spend less time on their home phone line, mobile and broadband services. It is £3.83 less a month compared to that in 2007. In the Consumer Experience 2009 report, the telecoms regulator Ofcom unveiled these figures.

A downfall was observed in the landline cost by £1.23 a month last year. It dropped from £23.49 to £22.26. In the similar way, a decrease was seen in the Household broadband and Internet cost in 2008. It came down from £11.37 to £10.71.

Consumers are going for bundled services to find affordable deals.

Ed Richards, Ofcom chief executive, said: “Take-up of communications services keeps growing and consumers are becoming smarter at finding the cheaper deals available by choosing bundled services or switching from standard annual contracts.”

There are many consumers who are planning to bundle their telecom services with one provider for deriving advantage of discounts and special offers. 35% of consumers opted for a discounted bundle in 2008 while it was only 30% in 2007.

Simon Piper, business development manager at Homephonechoices.co.uk, said: “Bundling your line rental, calls package and broadband service can really help cut your monthly bills, as well as reducing the number of bills you actually receive.”
He added: “Look out for special offers from home phone providers such as BT and Talk Talk, and even companies better known for digital TV such as Sky and Virgin media – you could save even more money if you take a phone, TV and broadband package.”