According to a new report from Strategy Analytics, Nokia, Research In Motion (RIM) and Apple are pioneering fresh revenue streams for the mobile handset industry with their entries into value-added services such as navigation, e-mail and music. Current revenues for all three vendors are modest, but growing.
“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,” Tom Kang, senior analyst at Strategy Analytics, said in a statement. “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 in the statement: “We estimate Nokia generated less than 1 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 5 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.”
Filed Under: Carriers, Devices
