ABI Research says camera phones and mobile television-enabled phones are helping to drive the growth of cellular handsets in Japan and South Korea, according to the firm's press release.
Based on its current research report ABI says camera phones in 2006 comprise about 75 percent of cellular phones in Japan and 52 percent in South Korea.
Andy Bae, an ABI senior analyst in Seoul, says in the press release, "Two megapixel camera phones with autofocus and zoom functions have started to outpace 1.3 megapixel models in Japan and South Korea. Two and three megapixel phones will be mainstream by 2008.
"Five (and greater) megapixel models will dominate after 2010."
U.S. market
In the United States, I know, the overwhelming majority of camera phones on the street are VGA. The sooner VGA dies, the better, as I've written many times before.
The 1.3 megapixel handsets will become mainstream in the U.S. in 2007. So far, unfortunately, we're not seeing many two megapixel camera phones and only one 3.2 megapixel camera phone (from Verizon Wireless).
Frankly, I'm surprised we haven't seen more higher resolution -- two megapixels and better -- camera phones from Sprint.
GSM's advantage
In Asia a fair number of CDMA vendors, such as LG and Samsung, offer higher resolution camera phones. In the U.S., though, there's a greater range of two megapixel camera phones for GSM networks from Nokia and Sony Ericsson.
Nokia and Sony Ericsson camera phones produce some of the best photos.
Also, GSM's SIM card feature enables subscribers to purchase advanced, unlocked phones -- albeit at high prices -- for use over the network even if the cellular operator doesn't offer them.
Mobile TV growth
The research firm says almost 14 percent of cellular phones in South Korea support the mobile television protocol DMB (Digital Mobile Broadcast). Electronics manufacturers are emphasizing T-DMB rather than S-SMB, ABI says.
Bae notes that GSM HSDPA and CDMA 1xEV-DO Revision A in Japan and South Korea have "spurred mobile vendors to develop premium and high-end handsets to support video call and music track download services."
[Sent via TypePad wireless e-mail with RIM BlackBerry 8700g]
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