Europe's Smartphone Growth is at Risk Aug 18, 2009

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Although smartphone sales in Europe are still growing, market participants must act now to minimize the recession's impact on smartphone sales and position smartphones for post-recession growth, according to a report from Pyramid Research.

While Pyramid Research expects total handset sales to decline 21% in Europe in 2009, smartphone sales, mostly by market developments in Western Europe, will continue to grow robustly - about 22% year on year, said the report.

The report also noted that while some Western Europe countries, such as Spain, have been severely affected by the recession, price adjustments are particularly needed in response to economic conditions in CEE markets.

Also, in the more developed Western European markets, smartphone applications will have to be compelling for smartphone uptake to remain unaffected by the deteriorating economy. Furthermore, if demand for advanced data services falls - and Pyramid Research does expect that the growth in revenue from data services will slow in 2009 - the need for smartphones is likely also to decline.

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