Gartner Says Touchscreen Mobile Device Sales Will Grow 97 Percent in 2010

Future Wireless Trends to Be Discussed at Gartner Wireless, Networking & Communications Summit 2010, April 19-21, in San Diego

STAMFORD, Conn. - The worldwide market for touchscreen mobile devices will surpass 362.7 million units in 2010, a 96.8 percent increase from 2009 sales of 184.3 million units, according to Gartner, Inc. By 2013, touchscreen mobile devices will account for 58 percent of all mobile device sales worldwide and more than 80 percent in developed markets such as North America and Western Europe.

“Touchscreens are no longer the preserve of high-end devices and are now being included in many midrange phones as more companies have been driving the consumer market for affordable touchscreen phones,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. “As phone capabilities increase, consumers are becoming much more aware of the benefits of touch interfaces, and vendors are responding.”

With mobile phone vendors now focused on integrating touch technologies, many are now going a step further and beginning to deliver user interfaces (UIs) that are truly optimized for touch input. They are also increasing their software skills to deliver deeper integration of touch UIs with the underlying platform, rather than software overlays.

Ms. Cozza said that the success of the iPhone has shown the viability of capacitive touch technology in mobile phones, which enables more-natural, responsive and intuitive gestures. Gartner predicts that capacitive and resistive touchscreens will coexist in the short term in mobile phones. Capacitive touch will be the mainstream technology; however, resistive touchscreens will still be around because of its lower cost.

“As we saw at Mobile World Congress touch interface technology will continue to be one of the key areas of innovation during 2010,” said Ms. Cozza. “Vendor and industry focus on touch UI will bring increasing sophistication and spur adoption of touch UI in other consumer electronics devices.”

However, vendors need to concentrate on delivering an experience rather than just a product. “Consumers won’t buy a mobile device purely for the touch UI,” said CK Lu, research analyst at Gartner. Touch technology is just an enabler, and ultimately, it is a compelling user experience — which includes good UI design, applications and services — that will make or break a product"

Mr. Lu advised vendors to invest in expanding their UI design capabilities and ensure that designs for touch-driven UIs integrate closely with the underlying device software, allowing for an uninterrupted experience. He also said that vendors should consider integrating touch with other form factors, such as numeric or QWERTY keypads, because touch UI cannot fulfill all kinds of operations.

From a sales volume perspective, Asia/Pacific is the leading region for touchscreen mobile devices. In 2010, touchscreen mobile device sales in Asia/Pacific are projected to surpass 129.1 million units, accounting for 35.6 percent of the global market. By comparison, Western Europe and North America are expected to account for 26.8 percent and 24.4 percent of global touchscreen mobile device sales. Looking at penetration of touch devices as part of overall sales in their regions, however, Western Europe leads the way with 49 percent, followed by North America at 46.65 percent. Due to the much larger size of the overall market, touchscreen sales will account for just 23.4 percent of total mobile device sales in Asia/Pacific.

“The Asia/Pacific region adapted touch very early since handwriting is great for Chinese input,” Mr. Lu said. “Looking at worldwide performance, touch technology is mainly driven by high end smartphones and feature phones. However, in Asia, the percentage of smartphones are relatively low compared to their sales in Western Europe and the U.S. Although the touch experience is generally welcome by users, price remains an inhibitor for wide adoption of touch phones, particularly in emerging markets.”

Additional information is available in the report “Forecast: Touchscreen Mobile Devices, Worldwide, 2006-2013,” which is available on the Gartner website at http://www.gartner.com/resId=1288713.

About the Gartner Wireless, Networking & Communications Summit 2010
The Gartner Wireless, Networking & Communications Summit 2010 offers new concepts and best practices to increase ROI on wireless investment, insights on the future of wireless, and unbiased perspectives on devices, systems, integration and the latest trends. Gartner analysts will provide advice and best practices for successful wireless and networking implementations at the Gartner Wireless, Networking & Communications Summit 2010 taking place April 19-21 in San Diego, CA. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/us/wireless.

Members of the media can register for the Summit in by contacting Christy Pettey, Gartner Public Relations, at +1 408.468.8312 or at christy.pettey@gartner.com.

Additional information from the event will be shared on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Gartner_inc and at #GartnerWireless.

About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 80 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.