According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, NFC phones are reaching a tipping point this year and global volumes will more than double in 2013. Most new LTE handsets will launch with NFC in the future, led by key players such as Samsung, Blackberry, Android, Microsoft and Nokia. More analysis can be downloaded by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, Motorola's worldwide mobile phone shipments fell -52% annually in Q1 2013. Since Google acquired Motorola in Q3 2011, this grandfather of the cellphone industry has failed to post either a quarterly profit or a single quarterly increase in shipments, something only a fundamental overhaul of its handset development strategy can reverse. We recommend Motorola turn to the Nexus sub-brand to inject some magic back into its portfolio. More analysis can be downloaded by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, LG's worldwide mobile phone shipments, revenues, profits and pricing all rose faster than the industry averages during the first quarter of 2013. Due to an improved 4G handset portfolio, LG is on the comeback trail. Operators and consumers are re-warming to LG. However, there are challenges. The US and China -- the world’s two most important markets -- remain major problem-children for the South Korean vendor. More analysis can be downloaded by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, NFC phones have reached a tipping point this year and global volumes will surge an impressive 138% in 2013. Most new LTE phones will launch with NFC in the future, led by key players such as Samsung, Blackberry, Sony, Android, GSMA, G&D and Visa. Paying, pairing and sharing are among the main use-cases for NFC. This published report, available to clients, contains forecasts for global NFC phone sales in 6 major regions, including North America, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Central & Latin America, Central & Eastern Europe and Africa Middle East, from 2004 to 2017. The report also forecasts worldwide NFC handset sales by installed base and by device type, as well as analysis of the technology's drivers and adoption challenges.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, several hundred million mobile handsets will flow through "closed" operator channels worldwide during 2014 (e.g. Telefonica). Some regions are dominated by operator-led channels, while others are dominated by retailer channels (e.g. Africa). Notably, China is seeing significant changes in distribution flows at the moment. This published report, available to clients, forecasts global handset distribution flows for 6 major regions and 3 key countries from 2007 to 2017, including North America, Western Europe, Latin America, China and India. The forecasts can be used by handset vendors, vehicle makers, apps developers and others to identify the main regional channels where mobile phones are being sold, and whether operators or retailers are winning the distribution wars.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, the global installed base of all mobile phones will grow by +6% in 2014. Asia Pacific is the region with the largest installed base by some margin, while Western Europe has the highest population penetration. Countries with huge installed bases include China, United States, UK, Nigeria, India, Brazil and Russia. This extensive published report, available to clients, forecasts the worldwide mobile phone installed base by 6 major regions and 88 countries from 2002 to 2017. It forecasts handset population penetration and handset household penetration. The report is a valuable tool for content developers, car makers, component vendors, operators and other stakeholders to measure the world's installed base of mobile phones by size, growth and penetration.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, TD-SCDMA phone sales will grow a healthy +38% in China in 2013. The Chinese 3G cellphone market is growing several times faster than the global average. Attractive pricing of devices and helpful operator subsidies are pushing the market higher. This is giving solid growth opportunities to companies involved in the TD-SCDMA industry, such as ZTE, Huawei, Coolpad, Lenovo, and Spreadtrum. However, TD-LTE networks will soon arrive, and the shelf-life of TD-SCDMA is thus limited. This published report, available to clients, forecasts TD-SCDMA handset sales for 88 countries worldwide from 2008 to 2017, including China.

Our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) team wrote a report in 2011 predicting Coolpad would be a fast-growing mobile phone microvendor of the future. Fast forward to 2013 and that prediction is on track to coming true. Coolpad, of China, has transitioned from microvendor to a known vendor. Coolpad is now a global top-15 mobile phone player and nearly a top-10 smartphone brand, having surged from almost nowhere two years ago. What is driving the growth? Keen pricing of 3G models, a good Android portfolio for entry users, and a solid retail presence in open channels across China are three main causes of its expansion. However, Coolpad's global growth is coming more in "volume" than "value". Recent financial results indicate profits softened last year. Coolpad will need a hot-selling flagship 3G or 4G phone for international markets (where profits can be larger) if it wants to strengthen profitability this year.

Our mobile phone and tablet teams are blogging daily from the show floor at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, between Sunday 24th to Thursday 28th February, 2013.

Blogs for days 1 to 3, Sunday to Tuesday, from our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, can be read here.

Two announcements stood out from Day 4 (Wednesday):

1. Asus PadFone Infinity: This is a phablet that docks into a tablet. Two devices become one. It is PadFone 2, an upgrade to PadFone 1 from 2012, sporting a larger screen and faster processor. It will be available in 10 countries, such as the UK and Taiwan, from Q2 2013. However, the wholesale (trade) price, set at an estimated US$925 for the full package, is expensive. Initial global volumes are likely to be niche.

2. Yota Phone: Russia's largest cellphone vendor, Yota, got some attention by presenting its dual-display handset, first unveiled in Q4 2012. The Android phone has a 4-inch touchscreen on the front side, and a 4-inch e-ink display on the back side. This is a creative formfactor, which blends a phone and ereader into one device. A visitor on the stand called it a "pheader" (pronounced "feeder"). No carriers have been announced outside Russia, and the phone is still a prototype, so they may be struggling with distribution and production.

See you tomorrow (Thursday) for closing Day 5.

Our mobile phone and tablet teams are blogging daily from the show floor at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, between Sunday 24th to Thursday 28th February, 2013.

The Day 1 (Sunday) and Day 2 (Monday) blogs, from our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, can be read here.

Three announcements stood out from Day 3 (Tuesday):

1. LG Buys webOS: LG purchased most of the webOS assets from HP this week. LG indicates the OS and UI knowhow will be implemented in smart TVs in 2014. Some mobile geeks hope the webOS platform will eventually make a full comeback in smartphones or tablets. This is unlikely, as webOS is a tarnished sub-brand. Instead, we think elements of the UI, such as card-stacking, could well find their way into LG's future software roadmaps.

2. Samsung & Visa: Following on from our recent analysis that NFC is everywhere at MWC this year, Samsung and Visa announced they will deepen their NFC-payment partnership. Visa's payWave wallet will soon be preloaded on most Samsung NFC smartphones. This is a good win for both firms. However, whether influential US mega-carriers, like Verizon Wireless and ISIS, will be willing to adopt the "SamVisa" solution remains to be seen.

3. Fujitsu Stylistic S01: Fujitsu is re-expanding into Western Europe this year. Its first new product will be a niche seniors phone -- the Stylistic -- at Orange France from Q2 2013. We trialed the Android device today and found it to be user-friendly, with a crisp, proprietary UI supported partly by targeted healthcare services. The S01 should resonate relatively well with mature consumers in the 40 to 75 age bracket. To my mind, the Stylistic may well be the best seniors phone on the European market today. Doro, Emporia and others will be looking anxiously over their shoulders.

See you tomorrow (Wednesday) for Day 4.