Smartphone use to grow strongly over the next few years

Sales of smartphones are expected to increase significantly over the next few years, reaching 115 million in 2009, according to a survey of the major research company In-Stat. The survey reveals that in 2005 31.5 million smartphones were sold, which is 70 percent more than the 18 million devices, sold in 2004. Most of the shipped smartphones were based on the Symbian OS, which is very popular in Europe. Among the rest of the operating systems, considered by In-Stat in their survey, were the Palm OS, the Blackberry OS, Windows Mobile, Linux, and the HipTop OS. According to the research company, smartphones manufacturers will focus more and more on the customization capability of the device, which will come with an increasing number of applications, packed in the handset.

Source: Internet Week