Touchscreen sales set to rocket

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Touchscreen sales set to rocket

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By Editorial Team (Tuesday, 30th September 2008)

The size of touchscreen mobile phones is as important as price to consumers, it has been suggested.

Neil Mawston, a director of Strategy Analytics, made the claim as his consultancy published research predicting that 90 million touchscreen mobile phones will be sold during 2009.

The hype surrounding the release of Apple's iPhone helped to bring touchscreen mobile phone technology to prominence and other manufacturers have since released rival products with similar functions.

Strategy Analytics forecasted such handsets will account for seven per cent of the mobile phones sold next year and that the price of the devices will begin to fall as Apple and Nokia increase supply.

While lower prices will help to encourage sales, Mr Mawston warned that manufacturers should not forget about practical issues such as screen size.

"Finger-operated touchscreens typically work best on large displays above three inches in size, because this makes them more accurate and more user-friendly," he explained.

This means the technology has restrictions, continued Mr Mawston.

He added: "Finger-based touchscreens will be mostly restricted to smartphones and feature phones over the next few years and mass-market consumers should not expect to see them on entry-level devices any time soon."

One forthcoming addition to the touchscreen smartphone market is the T-Mobile G1, otherwise known as the Google phone as it features the search engine giant's new Android operating platform.

The eagerly-awaited G1 will be in British shops in time for Christmas, but early reviews have been mixed, with the Sunday Times suggesting it was "exciting software trapped in an underwhelming handset" and that the iPhone 3G remains the "coolest smartphone you can buy".