Digital Lifescapes

Mobile Money is the most basic form of Mobile Financial Services (MFS) in emerging markets, which is comprised of a variety of offerings. It's a good model, due to the lack of infrastructure that supports access to services for the un-banked population of numerous nations. Where building and sustaining traditional financial institutions is very costly, landline telecom and mobile network operators offer a near-ubiquitous and reliable alternative to banking establishments. The concept is reliant on mobile handsets, taking the form of simple domestic money transfers, or micro-finance services that involve risk decision elements, such as lending and insurance. Mobile Money Market Development According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, the total value of mobile money transactions in emerging markets will reach $2 trillion by 2027 -- that's an increase of over $500 billion from 2023. Growing by 33 percent, the market is being driven by the transition to Payments-as-a-P...

Demand for multiple mobile profiles presents sizable opportunities in both developing and developed markets. In emerging markets, using more than one SIM card is common and is mainly driven by bargain hunting. In Botswana, for instance, the number of mobile subscriptions reached 152 percent of the population in 2012, even though only 66 percent of the population used mobile phones -- meaning that most mobile users held more than one SIM card. Savvy mobile network operators that are addressing the demand in three ways: dual-SIM handsets, traveler offers and virtual numbers -- according to the latest market study by Pyramid Research. The recent comprehensive study examined the multiple identities opportunity and how mobile network service providers are addressing it. Incentives for multiple mobile identities are different in developing and developed markets and the study took an in depth look at three main approaches to address the market. This assessment included case studies ...

Global demand for smartphones remains strong. For the second calendar quarter in a row, smartphone shipments represented more than half (52 percent) of the world's mobile phone shipments. Led by Samsung, an estimated 408 million handsets and 214 million smartphones shipped during the second quarter of 2013, according to the latest market study by ABI Research. In contrast, feature phone shipments declined 20 percent year-over-year to 195 million units, as low-cost manufacturers continue to claw their way up-market with increased features. Due to typical seasonality gains at mid-year, overall handset shipments grew 0.5 percent sequentially and more than 7 percent year-over-year. Smartphone shipments maintained a healthy growth rate of 5.5 percent sequentially and nearly 44 percent year-over-year. "Despite concerns of premium tier smartphone saturation, both Samsung and Apple were able to deliver better than expected results in the second quarter," said Michael Morg...

​In many parts of the world, smartphone shipments account for a significantly larger percentage of mobile handset volume than feature phones and other low-cost handsets. Yet within the smartphone class of devices, segmentation is increasing to three price tiers -- low, mid, and high. Shipments of sub-$250 lower-cost smartphones will grow from 259 million in 2013 to 788 million in 2018, according to the latest global market study by ABI Research. Mid (sub-$400) and high ($400+) cost smartphone shipments are expected to grow from 635 million to 925 million over the same period. "As the feature phone segment continues to lose its battle for relevance, the low-cost smartphone has become the tool for operators seeking to drive increased data revenues," said Michael Morgan, senior analyst at ABI Research . The growth of smartphones in pre-paid and emerging markets will be the primary driver of low-cost smartphone growth. Developed and subsidized markets are also finding...

​Mobile device design is increasingly reliant upon integrated platforms -- which are semiconductor chipsets based on combinations of application processor, baseband processor, and wireless connectivity technologies. In 2012, 19 percent of mobile handsets shipped were based on an integrated platform -- which is forecast to more than double to 46 percent in 2018. "Integrated solutions are used in many handsets from mass-market smartphones to flagship smartphones and will eventually find their way into feature phones," said Philip Solis, research director at ABI Research . One industry dynamic mitigating the need for integrated platforms are device reference designs and related services that are being offered by some of the semiconductor vendors. Qualcomm certainly benefits from its integrated platform products as it offers a large number of them with different features. Currently, only Qualcomm integrates wireless connectivity into its products, and is the only vendor...

comScore released results from a market study of first-time U.S. smartphone owners, which found that nearly half of previous mobile feature phone subscribers who acquired a new device during April 2012 switched to a smartphone. Among this group, the vast majority (61.5 percent) of consumers acquired devices running the Google Android platform, with 25.2 percent choosing Apple iOS devices, 7.1 percent opting for Microsoft OS smartphones, while RIM represented just 4.8 percent of the total. "The growing number of smartphones available to consumers, accompanied by the decrease in price points and surge in mobile media content, have made smartphone ownership possible and desirable for many more Americans," said Mark Donovan, comScore SVP of Mobile. Within the year, comScore expects to see smartphone owners become the mobile mainstream -- a major milestone that represents the enormous potential for marketers to reach a growing audience of savvy consumers. U.S. smartphone ...

comScore reported key trends in Japan's mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending February 2012. The market study surveyed more than 4,000 Japanese mobile phone service subscribers and found Sharp to be the top mobile handset manufacturer overall -- with 23.5 percent market share. Google's Android platform accounted for the vast majority of Japan's smartphone market at 61.4 percent, followed by Apple with 34.2 percent of the market. "Smartphones surpassed feature phones as the most acquired device type in February 2012, signaling an important shift in Japan's mobile market," said Daizo Nishitani, vice president of comScore Japan KK. The rise in smartphone adoption opens the door to tremendous opportunity for content publishers and advertisers to expand their reach and increase engagement with key consumer segments through this channel. Japanese mobile phone users were already highly engaged with their devices, but with the add...

Total mobile phone handset shipments across all markets will increase by 29 percent -- from 1.7 billion in 2012 to 2.2 billion in 2016. The key driver of this global growth will come from the smartphone segment, which is forecast to become larger than the ultra-low cost, low-cost, and feature phone segments combined by 2016. The total shipments of non-smartphone devices will grow 1.08 billion in 2012, and to 1.09 billion in 2016 while smartphone shipments will grow from 643 million to 1.1 billion over the same period. Mobile device manufacturers that have had prior success addressing the low-cost handset segments will be under pressure to shift their new product portfolio to smartphones -- or plan the projected market downside. Considering that they currently serve consumers with low disposable incomes, these OEMs will need to deliver smartphones that are price competitive to low-cost feature phones. "This emerging scenario could become a very dangerous situation for Nokia...

The worldwide mobile phone market grew 6.1 percent year over year in the fourth quarter of 2011 (4Q11). According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation ( IDC ), vendors shipped 427.4 million units in 4Q11 -- that's compared to 402.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010. The 6.1 percent year-over-year growth was higher than IDC's earlier forecast of 4.4 percent for the quarter, but weaker than the 9.3 percent growth in 3Q11. "The mobile phone market exhibited unusually low growth last quarter, which shows it is not immune to weaker macroeconomic conditions worldwide," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst at IDC. The introduction of high-growth products such as the Apple iPhone 4S, which shipped in the fourth quarter, helped to bolster smartphone growth. Yet overall market growth fell to its lowest point since 3Q09 when the global economic recession was in full bloom. While smartphones continue to grow in popularity, feature-...

Did you know that there's a mobile applications (apps) ecosystem in China? Were you aware that the total mobile application downloads for both smartphones and feature phones in China will reach 5.5 billion next year. This is an emerging market opportunity with immense potential. "As the app market in the West gets crowded, content providers and developers are eyeing new markets, such as China, which has the world's largest subscriber base," says Dan Shey, practice director at ABI Research . The ongoing expansion of China's 3G mobile service subscriptions -- which are expected to jump from 102 million in 2011 to 540 million in 2016 -- are driving app download growth. "Feature phones are an important market for app developers, maintaining a large share of the app store user base over the next few years," says ABI research analyst Fei-Feng Seet. "Regardless of device type, successful apps in the Chinese market are those with a local look an...

The next one billion people on the planet who are first-time users of the internet will likely gain access via a smartphone, not a computer. Moreover, the internet offers them the prospect of new hope and socioeconomic advancement. Why? Many of these people are poor, very poor. In most developing nations, the typical Android smartphone -- typically selling for $400 to $500 -- is way out of reach for many consumers that currently have a feature phone or perhaps no phone at all. These potential smartphone owners currently only have one operating system (OS) choice in the low-cost category, (the under-$150 segment) and that is Google Android. Besides, the only mobile service they can afford will most likely be pre-paid. According to the latest market study by In-Stat , they now forecast that unit shipments for low-cost Android smartphones will approach 340 million worldwide in 2015. “The low-cost Android handset segment will cause some fragmentation in the Android platform,” says ...

There's a transition taking place across the whole mobile phone subscriber market in Europe. This change includes both an upside and a downside for service providers and device manufacturers. Western European feature phone shipments continued to decline sharply in 2Q11, as consumers increasingly move to smartphones -- according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Feature phone shipments were down 29 percent -- to 20.4 million units in 2Q11 -- while smartphone shipments were up 4 percent -- to 21.8 million units from a year ago. The total Western European mobile phone market, however, declined 3 percent year on year to 42.2 million units in the quarter. This is the first time that smartphone shipments have surpassed feature phone shipments in Western Europe, representing 52 percent of total mobile phone shipments. All European countries are seeing increasing smartphone adoption, as consumers go for Android-based devices and the iPhone from Ap...

The worldwide mobile phone market grew 11.3 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2011 (2Q11), despite a weaker feature phone market, which declined for the first time since 3Q09. According to the latest market study by International Data Corporation ( IDC ), vendors shipped 365.4 million units in 2Q11 -- compared to 328.4 million units in the second quarter of 2010. The 11.3 percent growth was lower than IDC's forecast of 13.3 percent for the quarter and was also below the 16.8 percent growth in 1Q11. The feature phone market shrank 4 percent in 2Q11 when compared to 2Q10. The decline in feature phone shipments was most prominent in economically mature regions, such as the United States, Japan, and Western Europe, as users rapidly transition to smartphones. This was the first decline since Q3 2009 and reflected a combination of conservative spending and continued shift to smartphones. "The shrinking feature phone market is having the greatest impact on some...

Advertising on mobile devices and mobile money services are making strong inroads among the growing affluent segments of China's population, according to the latest market study by ABI Research . This perhaps counters the conventional thinking that consumer response to mobile advertising -- and the use of mobile devices for financial transactions -- are limited to the mature North American and European markets. ABI's online survey of 1,000 Chinese consumers was conducted in March-April 2011. Note, however, that given the online approach to the survey, the sample is entirely drawn from the technology-enabled part of the Chinese population. "Respondents were asked to indicate what actions they had taken as a result of clicking on an ad displayed on their mobile phones over the previous three months," said practice director Neil Strother. Nearly half (49 percent) of survey respondents had received a coupon, while 46 percent had investigated the product or service...

Creating a superior product design is part art, part science. How do you design a product that meets the needs of the mass-market, but still incorporates some new features that appeal to the early adopters? The simple answer is that you follow the insights and pointers that surface from studying the emerging trends. But how does a product designer rank and select the sought-after features with the most user appeal when the realm of possibilities is virtually endless? In the case of mobile phone applications, reaching that objective can be a dynamic and moving target. Although applications remain, as a whole, relatively stable as far as desirability is concerned, the competition for the number one position tends to be constant. In 2009, GPS turn-by-turn directions was the most desired cellphone application. In 2010, it was still popular but fell to the number two position -- usurped by users desire to surf the Internet, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . "Th...

While smartphone demand continues to grow, many mobile phone users are still purchasing the less-expensive feature phones. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, during 2010 feature phones comprised over 75 percent of the handset market. Consumers purchase feature phones for a variety of reasons including the need for a device that is optimized for a specific application, such as text messaging. "A messaging phone is a feature phone that has been enhanced for messaging services including SMS, MMS, mobile email, and mobile IM. These devices have a QWERTY keyboard and other capabilities at a price that is usually more affordable than a smartphone," says ABI Research senior analyst Victoria Fodale. Mobile phones for messaging will encompass an increasing percentage of feature phone shipments -- growing to almost a third of the category by 2015. Mobile phones optimized for messaging are targeted to specific markets including consumers in developing regions...