2007 Wrap Up. 2008 Predictions. (Part
4)
28th December 2007
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 What's
next?
At least some of our predictions for 2007 came true,
but many didn't. Here are our best guesses for the shape
of the mobile market in 2008.
2007 was the year that QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) screens
became standard, in 2008 we expect to see VGA resolution
(480 x 640 pixel) displays on high-end consumer phones.
We didn't see much in the way of digital paper displays
in 2007, but they should make a bigger impact in 2008
- and we might even see integrated
projectors next year too. As we said earlier, expect
to see many more touchscreen phones.. especially from
Nokia and Motorola.
We predicted last year that over-the-air digital
TV would become important in 2007, but it didn't.. perhaps
2008 will be better, and at least now the DVB-H standard
has been set throughout Europe. To a large extent, DVB-H
competes with HSDPA high-speed data for media delivery..
and HSDPA will become pretty much standard on all 3G
phones by the end of 2008.
We think that the camera megapixel wars will quieten
down during 2008 with the effective cap set at 5 megapixels,
mostly due to limitations with the camera lens in most
mobile phones. Instead, we think that manufacturers
will concentrate more on video camera with 640 x 480
pixels at 30 fps being the standard on midrange by the
end of 2008. Autofocus and flash will become standard
on midrange phones too - handsets that lack these camera
abilities will have a hard time in the marketplace.
Despite this, there will probably be one or two eight
megapixel phones by the end of 2008 as manufacturers
show off a little.
GPS will only feature in very high-end phones in
2008, although we will see more GPS devices as manufacturers
compete with the N95. Few phones can compete with a
dedicated satellite navigation system for ease-of-use,
and prices are dropping all the time - so in our view
the standalone satnav will survive.
Software will get better - expect to see more polished
user interfaces and cleverer applications that seamlessly
share data with a PC. Here both Google and Apple will
drive the quality of software forward, providing some
much needed competition in the market.
Prices should remain steady, the Motorola
FONE F3 comes in at just €35 or so SIM free and
is even free for some prepay customers. Top-of-the-line
phones will still cost up to €1000 SIM free. Manufacturers
will continue to lengthen contract times in order to
compensate for the cost of phones.
The Nokia
3110 Evolve perhaps indicates that environmental
issues will make more of an impact during 2008. The
manufacture and disposal of phones will be two areas
where companies will have to make improvements during
2008, and consumers themselves will have to change
their habits.
And Finally..
We'd like to thank all our readers during 2007, and
we look forward to another interesting year in 2008.
If you'd like to keep up with events, please remember
to subscribe to our newsletter
or RSS
feed.
Happy New Year!
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