New smartphones pioneering fresh revenue streams

New smartphones pioneering fresh revenue streams


According to a new report from Strategy Analytics, Nokia, Blackberry and Apple are pioneering fresh revenue streams for the mobile handset industry with their emerging push into value-added services such as navigation, email and music. Current revenues for all three vendors are modest, but growing.

Tom Kang, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said, "Nokia, Blackberry and Apple are among the first to realize that global handset revenues are approaching a peak; therefore fresh growth streams must be found in mobile services. A cocktail of promising applications for wireless consumers is already emerging, such as GPS navigation from Nokia, push-email from Blackberry and iTunes music from Apple."

Chris Ambrosio, Executive Director of Wireless at Strategy Analytics, added, "We estimate Nokia generated less than one percent of global revenue from its Ovi services sub-brand during 2007. Sales may be tiny, but they are growing. Strategy Analytics estimates that proportion can realistically achieve five percent of turnover by 2012. The real impact of Ovi, and other content offered by handset vendors however, will be in increased shipments of profitable, rich-media smartphones that will be necessary for accessing these advanced services."

The new report, "Nokia Ovi and Apple iPhone Will Thrive with Value-Added Services," defines three different business models for mobile consumer services to be introduced this year, while illustrating how they will affect handset vendors, operators and content providers.