What are the mobile industry trends in 2007-2008?

According to a research conducted by electronics.ca publications [1] ten trends that will influence the evolution of mobile handsets marketed in the European market are the following:
1)Alternative networks: HSPA/ Wi-Fi/ WiMAX
2)Fixed/Mobile convergence: UMA solutions/ SIP enabled services
3)Femtocells
4)Streaming mobile video and television: In-Band Service Market/ Out-of-Band Broadcast Services/ Place Shifting
5)Social networking
6)Location and A-GPS
7)Internet and data services via handsets
8)The iPhone
9)Promoted features
10)Increasing Corporate-liable subscriptions: Expanded Computing Capability/ Increased Security/ Application-Specific Devices/ Alternative Wireless Networks

Based on the findings of the semiannual study on the global scale mobile industry conducted by Chetan Sarma Consulting Group: [2]
* The worldwide markets continue to grow at an explosive pace reaching 3.3B subscriptions by Q407 up 20% from 2006 levels. Significant growth is coming from India and China with both countries registering close to 8-9M net adds per month. India recorded 8.8M net adds in Jan 08 while China added 9.4M in Feb 08. Overall, the world market is at almost 50% penetration.

* US surpassed Japan as the most valuable mobile data market in service revenue with US adding $24.5B vs. $23.2B for Japan in 2007 mobile data service revenues. China with $12.5B was ranked number 3. US registered the highest growth amongst the top 3 with over 55% increase from 2006 levels followed by China at 37% and Japan at 18%. These top 3 markets account for over 50% of the global data service revenues.

* Both India and China added a whopping 85 million new subscriptions (most of them prepaid). In late March 2008 India edges past US to become the number 2 wireless market (by subscriptions) in the world. In two years alone it added almost 150 million new subscriptions (in comparison China added 155 million and the US market added 44 million).China and India represent the biggest opportunities for Infrastructure providers. China has postponed its 3G decision for the umpteenth time and has been having technical and political problems to get something in place before the 2008 Olympics. India is going through its 3G spectrum policy but unlike China is likely to resolve the issues in short order. Some of the biggest infrastructure contracts will come from these two countries that are looking to expand coverage into rural areas. In India, regulators are considering inviting bids for the 3G spectrum from foreign entities as well.

* In terms of applications, messaging accounts for lion-share of data revenues. However, other services such as Mobile Music, Mobile TV and video streaming, Voice navigation, PNDs, Mobile Games, IMS, LBS, Mobile advertising, and others have captured industry’s imagination. Though not much talked about, enterprise applications are also being adopted widely esp. in North America as more workers become mobile and corporations seek efficiencies in their operations and supply-chain.

* Several operators reported Mobile Advertising as their key strategic focus for the coming quarters, esp. China Mobile and Vodafone. Sensing the opportunity to seek new sources of revenue stream, Nokia launched its ad service as well. 2007 saw tremendous M&A activity in both the online and mobile advertising space. In a matter of weeks, several billion dollar transactions took place highlighting the intensity in preparing for the next battleground. The estimated market for mobile advertising in 2007 was approximately $2.3B with messaging, search, and browsing accounting for over 84% of the revenues.

===Sources===
1)http://www.electronics.ca/reports/mobile_phones/european_market.html
2)http://www.chetansharma.com/blog/category/mobile-users/

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