Global mobile phone use will top 3.25 billion, equivalent to around half the world’s population, in 2007 as mobile phone demand booms in China, India and Africa, a survey,
African farmers to Chinese factory workers, mobile phone subscriptions will pass the 3 billion mark in July and exceed 3.25 billion by the end of the year.
The world’s population is forecast to hit around 6.6 billion in July.
Along with the Internet, the mobile phone has revolutionized communication. The mobile phone has spread from city whiz kids to Brazilian slum dwellers.
More than 1,000 new customers are effectively signing up for mobile phones every minute around the world, the survey.
Analysts have forecast that 65% of all handsets made this year will be sold in emerging markets as manufacturers, such as Nokia of Finland and Motorola of the US, push out low-cost phones and mobile phone operators cut call charges.
The figures cited in the survey take account of multiple mobile subscriptions by customers.
Penetration in Europe has topped 100% of the population, with 666 million mobile connections.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Global mobile phone use will top 3.25 billion — equivalent to around half the world’s population — in 2007 as cell phone demand booms in China, India and Africa, a survey said on Wednesday.
“It took over 20 years to connect the first billion subscribers, but only 40 months to connect the second billion,” said The Mobile World Co-Founder John Tysoe. “The three billion milestone will be passed in July 2007, just two years on.”
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Global mobile phone sales reached 257.4 million units in Q1 2007, up 14 percent from Q1 2006, driven by strong sales in the Asia-Pacific and Japan, according to figures from Gartner. Gartner expects full-year 2007 sales to reach 1.15 billion units, up 16 percent from 2006. Sales in the Asia-Pacific were up 40 percent year-on-year at 90.4 million units; with sales in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) up 6 percent to 43.9 million units; sales in Japan up 16.6 percent to 14.7 million units; sales in Latin America down 2.4 percent year-on-year to 24.6 million units; sales in North America up 2 percent to 41 million units; and sales in Western Europe up 4 percent to 42.9 million units. Nokia accounted for 35.7 percent of Q1 sales at 91.97 million units, versus 76.25 million units sold in Q1 2006; followed by Motorola with an 18.5 percent share or 47.55 million, versus 45.68 million; Samsung with a 12.5 percent share or 32.06 million, versus 28.13 million units; Sony Ericsson with an 8.4 percent share or 21.71 million, up from 13.15 million units; and LG with a 6.2 percent share or 15.97 million units, up from 14.55 million phones sold in Q1 2006.
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Global music labels earned USD 1 billion from mobile music in 2006 and will earn up to USD 7.3 billion in 2011, according to a study from eMarketer. This growth can only be reached if record companies fully understand and use the mobile phone as distribution tool. EMarketer also projects that the total value for ad-supported mobile music worldwide will reach USD 964 million by 2011, or 8 percent of the total retail mobile music market.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
EQO Communications, a pioneer in mobile internet phone services, today
announced the launch of EQO Mobile, a groundbreaking new service that lets
users make international long distance calls and exchange IM and text
messages on their mobile phones at local calling and messaging rates.
People using EQO save up to 95% on all international calls and enjoy free
calling and “texting” with other EQO users.
EQO’s new service is remarkably simple to use, sparing people from
calling cards, complicated dialing or callback scenarios. EQO Mobile is
powered by a small, sophisticated software application that makes calling
as easy as using as a standard phone address book. The application is free
to download and installs itself automatically. EQO Mobile allows users to
leverage their existing contact lists to build a network of EQO contacts
and to easily invite these contacts to also use EQO.
”It has become much more common for consumers to use their mobile
phones for talking, even when there is a landline alternative.
Unfortunately, mobile users who have friends and family spread out across
the globe have few choices from their wireless carriers for affordable
international long distance calling,” said Jill Aldort, senior analyst for
Yankee Group. “Mobile VoIP solutions such as EQO’s offer international long
distance calling for significant savings over the rates that wireless
carriers offer. These services will appeal to those consumers who need to
make frequent international long distance phone calls.”
According to Insight Research, the worldwide international calling
market reached $300 billion in 2006, with International VoIP revenues
forecasted to reach $87 billion this year.
”We developed the new EQO Mobile to satisfy a long unfulfilled need for
consumers and business professionals — to make international mobile
calling and messaging more affordable and convenient,” said EQO Chief
Executive Officer Bill Tam. “We’ve made it extremely easy for consumers to
get EQO Mobile, create a calling and messaging network of friends, and make
calls intuitively without having to worry about the costs.”
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Global mobile phone user base to reach 3.25b—survey
