Western European markets face challenge
The global mobile phone market is growing at the fastest rate for five years, with 160mn extra units sold. GfK says that sales in Europe and the USA will remain flat, with consumers tied into lengthy contracts, and it is Africa, Asia and the Middle East that will drive growth.
Aaron Rattue, GfK Telecoms Director comments “China, India and Africa are of huge interest to Telecoms providers and remain the places to watch in 2008. Penetration in Europe has reached 95%, with 800mn subscribers. Whereas China and India have far lower level of penetration with 39% and 19% respectively. Africa has a growth curve startlingly similar to China and India, but with a notable delay, however penetration stands at 27% with 250mn subscribers.”
Block or candy shaped phones comprise over 40% of mobiles sold globally. Slider and shell phones are becoming increasingly popular worldwide, making up over 45% of phones sold in Europe, 28% in Asia and almost 15% of sales in sub Saharan Africa. This will not change too much on a global level but there will be an increase in touch screen phones in Europe in 2008.
Camera and music functionality continued to be popular during 2007. The high cost of downloading music in sub Saharan Africa has meant phones with built in FM radio have been the product of choice. Into 2008, 25% of all GPS owned will be via mobile phones in the UK. TV tuners will grow but from a small base.
Aaron Rattue concludes “One billion mobile phones we sold in 2007 (equivalent to every sixth person) and GfK anticipates that this will rise by well over 10% in 2008. The global mobile phone market is an area of immense change and development. 2008 will be the year of ‘ultra’ – ultra slim, ultra cheap or ultra fast.
“The challenge in the mature markets of Western Europe is how to cater for an increasingly fragmented subscriber base. As the importance of voice and text fall it is our activity on the phone (over the internet, GPS, downloading etc) that will define the success of the market for 2008 and beyond. Already in the UK we are downloading a game every two seconds and sending thousands of emails each minute. We may also see a dramatic increase in the number of items we buy with our mobile phone later this year. The opportunities for the market are huge.”