The smartphone market has been growing rapidly over the past few years, with smartphone adoption spreading across the population. The youth market is also picking up this trend and the numbers who want or own a smartphone device are growing. So which smartphones are being adopted by future generations and why?

A smartphone for Christmas

The youth market for mobile devices is swiftly rising, and the age at which children acquire their first mobile phone is getting younger and younger. It is estimated that over 90% of 12-15 year olds already have a mobile phone and the number of smartphone acquisitions in this market is also growing [1]. Considering that a large amount of mobile phones acquired by the youth market are being gifted and are often from the medium to high-end price range, it is not surprising that the youth market are picking up the smartphone trend. Also, considering that most of the time it is the end-user that is influencing purchase of the gift, it is interesting to find out what are driving these decisions [1].

Near Field Communication (NFC) – the technology that supports close proximity mobile payment services – has been around for many years. However, up until recently, the NFC-enabled mobile devices and service support needed to make such payments a reality have been lacking.

In this video blog, Ryan Garner looks at the barriers to adoption, demonstrating that Trust and Familiarity of supplier brands will drive consumer preference and arguing the need for co-operation between brands from different sectors.

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To read the report article in the Free TechTalk Magazine, please click here.

Smartphones are competing with dedicated personal navigation devices (PNDs) for market share but recent research shows that PNDs are still preferred for in-car navigation. Smartphones can begin to win more market share by improving their user experience and integrating popular social networking and location based services.

Usage of mobile mapping and navigation services is booming. Almost a year ago Nokia announced that its mobile navigation service, Ovi Maps, would be free with a compatible Nokia handset. In the first week alone the service had been downloaded over 1.4 million times. According to Wikipedia Ovi Maps is now available in 74 countries and in 46 different languages. Similarly, Google now offers its mobile navigation services in 12 countries and it has proved a big hit with Google Android smartphone owners. Consequently, in the space of a couple of years the PND market has changed dramatically, with global in car satellite navigation providers such as TomTom and Garmin facing fresh competition from the all gadget devouring smartphone.

Many mobile companies and big brands are ready to launch mobile payment services this year. Although there is a healthy amount of consumer scepticism, there is also enough interest among early adopters and smartphone users to make this a success.

Last month TechTalk published a post about NFC (Near Field Communication) based mobile services becoming adopted among a wider consumer base in 2011. At the time of publishing we highlighted a number of new services and advances being made, from small start-ups to smartphone giants such as Apple, Google and Nokia. Now we’re almost one month into 2011 the news and developments on NFC, in particular mobile payments, continues to hit the headlines in the technology press. Most notably, O2[1] is beefing up their m-payments team ahead of its NFC based mobile payments service launch later this year, whilst  Google announced the launch of Android 2.3 OS (Gingerbread)[2], which adds support for NFC.

Gone are the days consumers choose mobile phones based solely on their features and functions. New research by GfK[1] shows that smartphone owners in key global markets buy into the ‘experiences’ created by the mobile ecosystem and the majority (56%) are ‘keeping their options open’, when deciding their next smartphone purchase.

Every quarter brings new reports of rapid growth in smartphones sales but a key question left unanswered is what is actually driving purchase in the high end smartphone category? Understanding drivers of purchase is naturally a complex subject due to the sheer number of factors that influence consumer decision making. Looking back as little as 3 years ago, the primary focus for many consumers was acquiring a well designed phone packed with the latest technology such as Wi-Fi, GPS, high resolution camera and so on. In recent years, however, development in mobile hardware has slowed and is arguably becoming less important. Of course, consumers still want good looking handsets with the latest technology, but with so much choice and less differentiation the mobile handset is potentially becoming a more commoditised purchase.

Within the last week, Nokia, Google Android and RIM have announced, alongside rumours of Apple’s iPhone 5, that 2011 will see the start of NFC-enabled phones, and the beginning of widespread commercial usage of this exciting piece of technology.

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a form of wireless communication technology that allows an exchange of data from two devices if they come within 10cm of each other. It’s been around for quite a while; in fact most Londoners use it every day for travelling with Oyster cards. NFC phones first appeared in 2007, when Nokia released the first phone of this type. With all the benefits of NFC, it’s surprising that we still haven’t seen widespread commercial usage. However, this may all change early next year with the release of the Apple iPhone 5, which is rumoured to be NFC-enabled. If the excitement and buzz around new iPhones continues, this could be the start of something truly revolutionary. In an announcement only last week, Nokia pledged to activate their NFC chips in 2011, with Google and RIM keen to follow the trend, both declaring that the next version of Android and future Blackberrys will come with NFC. Clearly, it’s something not to miss out on.

Smartphone operating systems (OS) have become arguably ‘the’ most critical factor in the mobile device market in recent times. Whilst obviously being crucial to the functional capabilities of a mobile device, they are now also seen as the cornerstone of its revenue potential. This has brought about a fascinating battle amongst the biggest names in the mobile and Internet markets, all looking to ensure their OS is the market leader. The result of this battle is likely to have a significant influence on who will dominate these markets during the next few years.

Phones with advanced operating systems now account for approximately 70% of the contract market in the UK*. This has led to a significant market share decline for Symbian, which has for some time been the most prevalent OS in the market, and increased competition amongst the four key operating systems at the higher end of the market – RIM’s BlackBerry OS, Apple’s iOS, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, and the newest OS to the market, Google’s Android.

In the PC market, Microsoft’s Windows OS is as common as the mobile phone in your pocket. However, Windows Mobile has struggled to capture the imagination of both consumers and businesses. In fact, with a rapidly declining 5% [1] of the global smartphone market it’s fair to say that relatively speaking Windows Mobile has been a horrible failure. But that’s all about to change.

Recent research by GfK NOP [2] shows that interest in Windows Phone 7 (the catchy name given to the successor of Windows Mobile 6.5) is strong. Almost one in five (18%) of UK mobile phone owners say they would consider a Windows Phone 7 (let’s go with WP7 from here on in) handset (available on HTC and Samsung devices among others) when they next come to renew, upgrade or buy their next mobile phone. Of course current smartphone owners display much higher levels of interest (32%). What’s more, Microsoft will be pleased to hear that of all smartphone owners, those using Google’s Android will be most interested (41%) in WP7. So what’s changed?

Expect to see a vibrant and competitive tablet PC market over the next 12 months as Apple sell 2 million iPads globally in less than 60 days.

Apple certainly knows how to get the media and public excited about their latest creation, the iPad. Everyone is talking about the iPad and tablet PCs and this is not just tech press but also mainstream news bulletins. Apple is extremely proficient at sparking people’s imagination around all the creative ways their products, iPhone and iPad, can be used. Apple’s famous strapline for the iPhone was “there’s an app for that” which creates a powerful perception that anything is possible, and the same applies on the iPad.

Smartphone technology paves the way for the market to adopt greener approaches. Encouraging greater use of mobile services helps to limit the need for multiple devices, extend the product lifecycle and offer consumers more ways of being green.

“Technology companies can never be green”. A casual comment dropped into conversation when discussing the idea of ‘green technology’. Of course, ‘green technology’ already exists in the form of multi-million pound, global scale projects that help reclaim water, produce renewable energy and generally help meet global climate change targets. Green technology, as it stands, does not mean the ‘greening’ of technology.