Tag: gartner

According to the latest statistics, these figures have climbed by 74 percent over last year.

A brand new technology news report has just been released that has stated that the Asia Pacific countries, as well as those in Eastern Europe and Latin America are the regions experiencing the highest amount of growth in the sale of smartphones.

The data that was released in the report showed skyrocketing rates of growth in the sale of the devices.

The report was first printed in a large online Asian technology news site, and stated that when compared to the same time last year, there has been a 74.1 percent growth rate of smartphones in Asia Pacific countries, a 55.7 percent increase in Latin American countries, and a 31.6 percent rise in the Easter European sales.

The technology news data, itself, was collected and provided by Gartner, confirming that smartphones are still taking off.

It provided confirmation to what many technology news sources had already been suggesting, that smartphone sales are steadily and rapidly on the rise around pretty much all regions around the globe. It went on to say that in the second quarter of this year, the mobile phone sales worldwide, to the end consumers, was up to 435 million units. This was a global increase of 3.6 percent when compared to the same time in 2012.

In the second quarter of 2013, smartphone sales increased by 46.5 percent, making it the first time in history that these devices exceeded the sale of smartphones. The technology news went on to indicate that during that quarter alone, the sale of smartphones to the end consumer came up to 225 million units, while at the same time, only 210 million units of feature phones were sold.

Worldwide, the technology news was the best for Samsung, which continued to hold its top position in the smartphone marketplace. Its share of the smartphone market rose to 31.7 percent, in comparison to the 29.7 percent that it had reached in the same quarter in 2012.

According to an technology news statement released by the principal research analyst, Anshul Gupta, from Gartner, “Smartphones accounted for 51.8% of mobile phone sales in the second quarter of 2013, resulting in smartphone sales surpassing feature phone sales for the first time.”

PayPal continues to dominate the mobile payments field

The mobile commerce sector is rife with competition. The growing popularity of mobile payments of consumers has encouraged numerous startups to emerge, each looking to beat one another in the hopes of gaining consumer support. The problem, however, is that there is already a well established commerce platform that has muscled its way into the mobile sector: PayPal. The company has been involved in mobile payments for years before mobile commerce began gaining significant attention around the world and its presence in the sector may be too much for smaller companies to handle.

Competition may be too much for startups to handle

Consulting firm Crone Consulting LLC suggests that the mobile commerce market has become over saturated. There are numerous startups working against one another to appeal to consumers. Many of these organizations are offering mobile payments processing systems that are fee-free. While this may be attractive for merchants that are reaching out to mobile consumers, the fact that these startups are not making any money off these transactions has created some uncertainty among consumers.

Venture funding may not be an adequate option for mobile commerce startups

Many mobile payments startups are backed by venture funding. When this funding runs out, however, these companies may be unable to generate a profit or cover the costs associated with the services they offer. Some may be forced to begin charging a fee to process mobile transactions, which may lead to an exodus of clients they acquired through the promise of fee-free services. Others may simply close shop because they cannot afford to continue operation. Those that are determined to persist in the market will have to face PayPal, which boasts of $20 billion in mobile payments on a yearly basis.

Companies may find some success by focusing on very small niches in the market

According to a recent study from market research firm Gartner, the mobile commerce market is expected to reach $235.4 billion in global transaction value by the end of this year. The market is expected to see promising growth throughout the near future, a fact that has generated a great deal of encouragement for those interested in entering the mobile commerce field. Startups may find it difficult to find a foothold with giants like PayPal crowding the field, however, which has led some companies to focus on very specific niches in the mobile payments sector in order to find some degree of success and solvency.