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.