According to Lee Williams , the executive director of the Symbian Foundation , the smartphone market is set to grow by between twelve and fifteen percent in 2009.
This would be quite impressive , given the current economic climate and the general stagnation in cell phone sales and manufacturing.
His view seems to be endorsed by ARM , the microprocessor manufacturer , who estimate a ten percent growth in the smartphone market in 2009.
There could be two main reasons for this : China and the good old principle that however bad the economy is . people love new toys.
Expansion into China is currently Apples big challenge , highlighting the problems of how they keep control of their content in the first place and then how they monetize that content in a very different market to others they operate in.
The new toys principle is always pretty sound. According to market research company TNS , new devices have a product development cycle of between twelve and eighteen months , implying new phones or at least new versions of phones will come around with this cycle.
TNS also argue , convincingly , that smartphones drive the wireless market in the US , and as people become more picky about being able to access email , sms and internet on the move , smartphones will be developed to meet peoples demands , hence growth.
According to their Wikipedia entry , Symbian has about 47% of market share of smartphone operating systems , whilst Apple has about 17% , RIm about 15% and Microsoft 13%.
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