Analysts are predicting a SmartPhone explosion as more and more mobiles will be launched in an attempt to satisfy our “insatiable appetite” for social media and our increasing dependency on mobile phones for communication.
The latest phone to whet our appetites comes from KDDI who have just released the U1, KDDI’s first phone featuring Technology.
The phone has a 3 inch WVGA Panel and supports microSDHC cards up to 16GB. It also comes with Sony Blu-Ray forwarding technology which means we will be able to synchronize the phone with our Blu-Ray players
Other features that come with the U1 include a 5.14 megapixel camera with AF, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, EF Radio, GPS, and Felica and 1Seg TV.
Another Sony Ericsson phone included in KDDI’s lineup is the Urbane Barone aimed at the “elderly”, which must be a bit of a joke as it’s apparently made for the forty to fifty age group, and if that’s considered elderly I’d like to know what planet they’re on.
I can’t quite see why the Urbane Barone is going to appeal to older users and not younger ones as it looks like a bog standard phone to me with camera, support for microSDHAC cards, as well as Wi-Fi and the other connectivity options we now consider essential.
The point I’m making is, phones are big business now, bigger than ever, and what we’ve come to expect in a phone is changing too.
We now consider SmartPhones as standard, an internet connection as compulsory, and demand will more than likely drive the price of a so called SmartPhone down.
We tend to think of SmartPhones as being, well, smarter than other phones, but nowadays we expect our phones to be smart, it’s no longer a novelty.
Some analysts are even saying that it’s time for the SmartPhone label to be dropped and I I’m inclined to agree.
“Most handset makers are looking to add internet capabilities to their ranges. It is no longer about whether a phone can access the internet but how well,” said Ian Fogg, who is an analyst with research firm Forrester.
Ben Wood, another analyst, this time with CCS Insight says “we are on the cusp of an explosion of computer-like devices in the hands of consumers where previously they were the preserve of the early adopter”.
Wood predicts that we could be seeing SmartPhones for less than £100 as soon as next year.
Can’t wait!
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