RP smart phone sales to reach 38% by 2015

In five years, more than a third of mobile phones sold in the Philippines would be smart phones from only 2 percent last year, technology consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan said Monday. For the rest of the Asia Pacific region, about 54 percent of all handsets sold by 2015 would be smart phones and usually capable of third-generation or 3G connections that allows for faster mobile internet connections. This would be up from just 5 percent at the end of 2009. In the Philippines, smart phones would make up about 38 percent of the handset market, highlighting the growth in mobile internet. The situation would be such that telecommunication firms could take advantage of the growth to their own advantage, according to the consultancy firm. Industry estimates show that mobile phone penetration in the Philippines reached 80 percent to 85 percent of the population. Internet penetration, however, remains at 20 percent - low compared to regional standards. "Smart phones are critical to every operator’s mobile broadband business case, as a smart phone user’s average revenue per user (ARPU) typically increases by 25 to 100 percent after adoption depending on the market," Frost & Sullivan industry manager Marc Einstein said. Einstein estimates that 477 million units of smart phones would be sold in Asia Pacific by 2015 and the higher use of smart phones would generate over $38 billion for operators in the region, up from just over $1.3 billion in 2009. “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 that smart phone sales in Asia Pacific is rapidly increasing in all markets, as Japan and South Korea switch from feature phones to smart phones. Emerging economies are pushing smart phones to entice users to upgrade from 2G to 3G service, according to Frost & Sullivan. Mobile social networking was a big driver of smart phone adoption in all Asian countries, Frost & Sullivan said. Local telecom firms now rely on growth of high-value services like mobile broadband internet partly to offset the dip in revenue from traditional streams as voice calls and text messaging. Smart phone sales have increased by 50 percent worldwide, while mobile application providers will grow four times by 2013, according to Frost & Sullivan. —With MR Gavin/VS, GMANews.TV