Pyramid Research's Senior Analyst and Practice Leader for Mobile Devices, Stela Bokun, has compiled the firm's latest Smartphone Forecast, which reveals some interesting predictions. The percentage of smartphones sold to end users is expected to rise from 27% of the cell phone market in 2011 (1.46 billion devices) twice that at 53% in 2015. The growth is attributed to high demand of cheap Android smartphones in developing parts of the world, like Africa and the Middle East, and parts of Western Europe, Asia and North America.
Despite the fact that Android will be the mobile OS at the center of surge, Bokun reports that Windows Phone will actually continue to gain marketshare, until it finally replaces Android at the top in 2015. You read that correctly. She asserts that by 2015 Windows Phone will be the #1-selling mobile OS in the world. While the exact reasoning is not clear, it's a safe assumption that the MS/Nokia deal and Nokia's push to lower pricing on WP7 devices will play a key role. We've already seen WP7 catch up to the struggling WebOS and expectations that it will overtake Blackberry, though the latter forecast had WP7 at 17.2% to RIM's 16.5%.
Source: BGR
