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.

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.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, total worldwide mobile phone industry revenues grew a healthy +15% annually in Q4 2012. Profits and prices also increased due to a greater proportion of 3G and 4G models in the mix. Samsung and Apple dominate the industry and they are tightening their grip on value share, squeezing out almost all other rivals. This published report, available for download by clients, provides quarterly global handset average selling prices, revenues and profit metrics for multiple major handset vendors, from 2007 through 2012. Revenue share and profit share are also supplied. The report is a valuable tool for operators, component makers, automotive players and financial analysts who want to track the financial health of mobile phone makers.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, Sony shipped 9 million mobile phones worldwide in Q4 2012. Its position in the high-growth LTE cellphone market has improved recently and its global 4G share doubled quarter-on-quarter. Sony remains under-penetrated in the huge US and China regions, but in other parts of the world, such as Japan and Sweden, the Japanese vendor has good potential to grow this year due to an improved Xperia portfolio and various marketing activities across Latin America. More analysis can be viewed by clients in this published report.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, Nokia shipped 86.3 million mobile phones worldwide in Q4 2012. Increasing Microsoft Lumia volumes and tighter cost-controls helped Nokia return to profitability after three straight quarters of financial losses. However, Nokia’s handset shipments fell sharply in China. China now joins the United States on the company’s “must recover” list of countries for 2013. More analysis can be downloaded by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, Motorola’s global handset shipments tumbled -43% annually in Q4 2012. Growth in mobile phone sales was lackluster across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Can the rumored upcoming “X Phone” give Motorola’s fortunes a positive boost in the second half of 2013?

More analysis can be downloaded by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, global Bluetooth headset and speakerphone sales combined will grow 16% over the next five years. Mono headset players are now introducing richer services and context-aware features to add extra value to their product portfolios. Despite fierce rivalry and market fragmentation, Plantronics, Motorola, Jabra and others will continue to dominate the global Bluetooth headset industry in 2013. This published report, available to clients, forecasts worldwide Bluetooth headset sales by region, for mono and stereo, in-box and after-market, from 2001 to 2017. It also contains global Bluetooth headset marketshare for the world's 7 largest vendors in 2005 to 2017. The report goes on to forecast global Bluetooth speakerphone sales by region and attach-rate from 2008 to 2017.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, South Korean vendors, Samsung and LG, dominate global phablet shipments today. The two companies are seeding the market with multiple large-screen phones over 5 inches (e.g. Samsung Galaxy Note 2). The emerging phablet category is valuable to display makers like Samsung Display, LG Display, Japan Display, Sharp, Chimei and AUO. How big will the phablet segment grow in 2013? How large is the installed base? Which brands are the leading phablet vendors? Which operating systems have the highest marketshare? This research note, available to clients, answers those questions and more.