Driven by an increased mix of subsidized smartphones in mature markets (e.g. US) and some emerging markets (e.g. China), we forecast global handset subsidy spend to reach US$46 billion in 2012. We believe the global average handset subsidy will maintain steady growth through 2014, but it will dip after that.

North America remains the world?s most valuable market, contributing to over half of global handset subsidy spend. Meanwhile, emerging markets like China are ramping up their activities to play a growing role in the subsidy industry.

Handset subsidies offered by operators worldwide remain volatile. Some countries are investing more in subsidies, while others are trying to spend less. How big is the global handset subsidy market today? How much subsidy does each region capture? How much subsidy share do smartphones and postpaid handsets capture? Will operator subsidies rise, plateau or fall in 2013? How will operator subsidies affect handset vendors such as Apple or component makers like Sharp?

This published report by our Wireless Device Strategies service answers those questions and more.

Technorati Tags: Subsidies,Smartphones,4G,LTE,China,North America,Handsets

Yesterday Microsoft held an event in Los Angeles where they announced the Surface, a self-branded tablet device that will be available in both ARM and x86 versions. The device features an impressive build quality in an attractive form factor as well as some interesting features. We believe the Surface will resonate well with the enterprise community and help Windows 8 OS garner interest, developer attention and market share.

Microsoft has learned well at the PR altar of Apple and executed perfectly at this ?secret? launch. Microsoft has not just imitated Apple but has potentially even outdone Apple in terms of attention to detail on the covers, keyboard, perimeter venting, digital ink and that?s all before you even talk about the device applications and features.

Given the anemic progress of Android vendors (Samsung aside) in tablets and the terrible historical track record of Microsoft?s Oems in tablets, introducing a competitive product which showcased the ability of Window to compete in the category really was in the critical path.

First impressions are of a device which has seen millions of man hours (ok maybe not quite that much) dedicated to not just designing a product but placing a market in the tablet market which has not but surely will cannibalize the PC market at some point.

Microsoft is smart to have showcased both the RT and Windows 8 Pro versions and to provide a roadmap and a challenge to its existing OEMs to match that!

An event that lived up to the hype and expectations, what a surprise. Well done Microsoft. The Surface announcement do not materially impact our forecasts for tablets by OS as this was already factored into our thinking.

Clients to our Tablet and Touch Screen Strategies service can read more about our take on the Surface tablets here

Worldwide handset industry revenues grew +15% annually in Q1 2012. Despite a slowdown in the global economy, mobile handset revenues expanded at a double-digit rate due to robust demand for 3G and 4G models.

Apple was once again the star performer, topping the charts in most regions worldwide. Meanwhile, Samsung became the revenue leader in Africa Middle East for the first time ever. This report provides quarterly global handset revenue, ASP and shipment metrics for major handset vendors across six major regions from 2009 to Q1 2012. The report is a valuable tool for any mobile stakeholder wanting to track the financial health of major handset manufacturers.

Due to Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy mania, global operating profit margin for the handset industry currently stands at 18% in Q1 2012, near levels not seen since the peak of Motorola Razr mania during 2005.

Industry profitability worldwide has tripled in the past three years. On face value, industry profitability appears relatively healthy -- however, profits are heavily polarized around Apple and Samsung, who together captured over 90% of realized industry operating profits globally in the first quarter of 2012.

The global handset Industry grew +15% YoY and made US$62 billion of wholesale revenues in Q1 2012. It is on track to exceed a quarter-billion dollars for the first time ever in 2012.

Stripping out Apple and Samsung from our calculations, we find global handset wholesale revenues among all other vendors in fact shrank an astonishing -26% YoY in Q1 2012.

Clients to our Handset Country Share Tracker service can access detailed ASP, Revenue and Value by vendor for each of our 6 regions shown below in the table of content

Handset tethering delivers mobile Internet access for rich content and multimedia to locally connected devices and vehicles via 3G and 4G cellular data networks. Tethering can provide mobility, flexibility, speed and convenience for subscribers and service providers.

We predict mobile hotspot handsets to surge 105% in 2012 and become a high-growth sub-category.

This extensive report forecasts mobile hotspot handsets, Bluetooth PAN Handsets and USB tethering handset sales by region from 2007 to 2016. Volume forecasts and installed base forecasts by device type, such as smartphones and feature phones, are also included at a global level. The report can be used by operators, device vendors, component makers, content providers and car manufacturers to determine the future size and importance of the mobile handset tethering market.

Major countries for mobile hotspot phones will include USA, UK, Germany, France, Australia, South Korea, Japan, China, Brazil and Russia.

                                              
Other questions answered in this report include:

How many Bluetooth PAN tethering handsets will be sold worldwide in 2012 and 2016?

What % of all handsets sold globally in 2016 will be Bluetooth Pan enabled?
           
We forecast global USB tethering handset sales to reach 1 billion units in 2012 but what percentage of smartphones and feature and basic phones are currently able to do tethering via their USB port.
        
What is the outlook for mobile hotspot tethering method?

What % of devices enabled will actually be used actively?

In summary, the worldwide mobile handset tethering market is growing fast, but there are currently several barriers to usage that the industry still needs to address.                                                           

Client Reading

Global handset sales will grow +6% in 2013. Asia Pacific will remain by far the largest region, accounting for 5 in 10 of all volumes worldwide. The six largest countries globally, such as China, will make up half of total handset sales. India will soon overtake the United States as the world's second largest country by volume, illustrating how important developing markets have become.

This report forecasts global handset sales for 88 countries worldwide from 2002 to 2017. Almost every major country worldwide is covered, including United States, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and many others. This report can be used by operators, software developers, content developers, handset vendors, component makers, car manufacturers and other stakeholders to determine or prioritize the size and growth rate of the huge global handset market.

Asia Pacific will be by far the world's largest region in 2013, accounting for 45% of all volumes worldwide.

Key questions answered in this report include:

How big is the illegitimate gray market?

How many countries have annual handset shipments above 30M?

What are the fastest growing African markets?

To view or download this report please follow options here

In Q4 2011, global handset ASP went through the ceiling reaching $159, the highest level since 2004. This was a 14% rise compared to last year. It was the iPhone effect as Apple shipped 37 million iPhones, taking more than 30% of the market revenue. But this time it was not just Apple raising Average Sales Prices. Major vendors are constantly concentrating on high value smartphones thus increasing sales prices across the globe. Nokia, Samsung, LG and Motorola all experienced a rise in ASP during the fourth quarter.

This report provides the details of handset vendor ASP and revenue share of the leading brands such as Nokia, Samsung and Apple in the regions of North America, Central & Latin America, Western Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa Middle East for Q4 2011.

North America continues to see a rise in ASP above $300 for the first time since we?ve been tracking the market and only a few years ago an average $130~150 market.

? Apple took an unbelievable 50% share of the market revenue in Q4 followed by Samsung and Motorola in third place as HTC collapsed. Western Europe Handset Average Selling Price also rose quickly as the new iPhone 4S was shipped in massive volumes.

? Apple once more took the top place in terms of revenues while Samsung dropped to second place. All major vendors save HTC saw an increase in ASP as smartphones continued to dominate the market.

How rapidly did Asia Pacific revenues grow in Q4?
How far below 20% di Nokia share fall in AP?
How did HTC revenue fare in NA? W. Europe? Asia?
How strong are tier two vendors performing ?
How did RIM?s revenue share and ASP trend in each region?

Client reading

Global touchphone shipments grew an impressive 70% during 2011. Samsung maintained the no.1 position due to healthy demand for its popular Galaxy portfolio. Apple jumped into second place, while Huawei and ZTE of China are also becoming important buyers of touchscreens.

Strategy Analytics tracks global touchphone shipments and vendor market share by quarter from 2007 and has seen touchphone share of total volume grow from just 2% in 2007.

The top 3 vendors account for almost 2/3 of touch volumes but how quickly will Motorola, Sony (Ericsson) and HTC be caught by both established Chinese brands and the next wave of Android vendors?

Key questions answered in this forecast include:

? How many touchphones were sold in the latest quarter?

? What is the forecast for touchphone volume in 2016?

? How well has Nokia rebounded in touch with its Lumia products?

? Which vendors shipped more than 10M touchphones in q4, 2011?

Client Reading: http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=reportabstractviewer&a0=7207

Android,Samsung,Apple,Galaxy,LG,Nokia,Lumia,ZTE,Huawei

View the presentation slides from Strategy Analytics Breakfast Presentation at MWC 2012.

What are the opportunities and obstacles for the mobile industry as it expands to address a multitude of connected devices including handsets, tablets, gaming devices, connected TVs, and associated applications?

How can the economics work across the value chain and who will manage the future connected device experience?

What roles will operators and their pricing play?

Client Reading

Strategy Analytics team presented our latest research on tablets, connected devices and apps at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week. One hot topic was whether the great success of tablets was cannibalizing the PC market or notebooks or ultra books. So far, we see little evidence of this with tablets being largely additive. SA expects the computing opportunity to exceed 700M units annually by 2015?. Not counting the much larger market for smartphones of course. 

Client Reading

Handset shipments in the United States reached a record high in 2011. Healthy demand for 3G phones and prepaid subscriptions drove growth. A refreshed iPhone 4S, as well as discounted previous-generation models, proved a big boost to Apple in the fourth quarter, as it took the lead at three major operators.

Samsung remained the number one handset vendor in the USA in Q4 2011, as its Galaxy lineup continued to resonate with consumers across all carriers. Sequentially, however, Apple took a bite out of Samsung's market share. Samsung's did however grow its share at T-Mobile while the introduction of the iPhone at Sprint had a significant negative impact.

This report tracks quarterly handset vendor market share at all major carriers in the USA, including Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T Mobile, from Q1 2009 through Q4 2011.

Key questions for the US handset market answered in this report include:

How did Apple?s US market share trend at Sprint? AT&T? Verizon Wireless? Sprint?

Which operators performed best for LG as its total US share dropped just below 14%?

How close are HTC and Motorola in terms of volume at Verizon Wireless?

Which vendor suffered most from the introduction of the iPhone at Sprint?

Client reading: http://tinyurl.com/87yhgf2