Smartphone prices are falling as shipment volumes increase, and a new study from ABI Research finds that while in 2007 only 18% of smartphones on offer cost under $200 retail price, that percentage has already grown to 27% this year. By 2014, say the firm’s forecasts, 45% of the smartphones shipped that year will be priced below $200. These numbers highlight a rapid change in many consumers’ attitudes about smartphones, and a corresponding shift in vendors’ and mobile operators’ sales and marketing strategies. Prices will hold at a certain point, we may never see a $30 smartphone. But over time, smartphones will take a substantial part of the mainstream handset market.

ABI Research released a new in-depth market report. It reports that Entry-level cell phones enjoy 24% annual growth through 2014. The world’s largest underserved markets for mobile communications are in developing nations and regions. Asia, Africa, Latin America all have vast potential, but formidable barriers stand in the way. Among the most immediate: the low disposable income of most of the population. Low cost and ultra-low cost cell phones are seen as part of the solution to that problem, and according to a new study from ABI Research the two categories together will see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24% over the next five years.

According to a recent study from ABI Research, sixty six percent of revenues earned from mobile phone accessories are generated in the aftermarket. This percentage is only expected to grow with time, following a market trend to move more and more accessories "out of the box" and onto retailers' shelves according to ABI research. "Mobile operators and mobile phone vendors see that the only return from including a subsidized accessory included in the mobile phone box is customer satisfaction," comments industry analyst Michael Morgan. "While that isn't without some intangible value, on the retail shelf a mobile phone accessory is a high-margin product that will generate actual income."

Despite tough corporate and unemployment news making the headlines, the mobile handset-buying public did not head to the hills during the first quarter of 2009. Mobile phone vendors had shipped 258 million cell phones by the end of the quarter. Although that represents an 11% year-over-year decline, the result significantly exceeded the previous forecast of 253.5 million. “Green shoots are sprouting,” is how ABI Research vice president Jake Saunders describes the latest figures.

While many innovative LBS (Location Based Services) applications such as friend finders and location based search will be launched by carriers in the next few years, personal navigation will remain the most important LBS category providing high value and clear benefits to end users. But according to ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte, “Enterprise LBS applications for asset and vehicle tracking and work force management will become an important revenue generator for carriers in the future as companies will increasingly deploy mobile solutions to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve customer service.

Outdoor GPS devices and solutions are quickly gaining momentum. An increasing number of high-end handheld outdoor GPS navigation devices with intuitive user interfaces and multimedia features, along with the emergence of converged outdoor software solutions, are driving overall demand. Combined with increased interest in the outdoors, the result is a thriving outdoor GPS ecosystem.

While in-car navigation will remain the most important application of GPS technology, the use of GPS in many other consumer, business, and industrial environments such as telematics and asset tracking will continue to grow. The GPS modernization project and the arrival of additional Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GLONASS, Galileo, and Beidou/Compass will increase the availability, reliability, and precision of satellite positioning and stimulate the location ecosystem, expanding the market to more than 900 million units by 2013.

There is a new class of devices emerging on the horizon: a convergence of everyday consumer electronics and mobile broadband. Consumer electronics increasingly will include Wi-Fi for connectivity within the home and to the Internet; Wi-Fienabled portable consumer electronics devices are a bridge to the mobile consumer electronics devices. Service providers will offer services to these devices in addition to handsets and laptops. SK Telecom is doing this today for Samsung’s HSDPA-enabled camera, and Sprint Nextel and Clearwire will heavily promote connectivity for a wide range of WiMAX-enabled consumer electronics devices.

Revenue from shipments of removable memory cards for handsets is expected to be over $7 billion in 2007, compared with $5 billion expected from headset shipments including both Bluetooth and wired headsets, according to a recent study from ABI Research. Memory cards will continue to be the highest revenue-generating mobile phone accessory category over the next five years. ABI Research industry analyst Shailendra Pandey says, “With few exceptions, memory cards for handsets are bought by users separately from the handset purchase, whereas an increasing number of headsets are now being supplied inbox with the handsets.”

ABI Research announced the launch of a new source of business intelligence for the wireless industry, the Business Mobility Research Service. Like the company’s other Research Services, it provides a bundle of research and analysis products that blend strategic industry assessment with robust quantitative data. These include individual Research Reports and ABI Insights, along with highly granular Market Data and analyst inquiry support.