APAC smartphone sales to be half of all phones by 2015

A boom in smartphone sales is set to hit the Asia-Pacific with 54 per cent of all mobile devices sold in the region expected to be smartphones by 2015.

Frost & Sullivan industry manager Marc Einstein said China and India are leading the way in the uptake.

"The Asia-Pacific market is particularly interesting for smartphones as there has been significant uptake in emerging markets like China, India and Indonesia, even among prepaid users," he said.

The analyst predicts the mobile market in the Australia and New Zealand region will be dominated by smartphones, with a market share of 62 per cent expected in 2015; an increase from 2 per cent in 2009.

Einstein said an increase in demand for mobile social networking will be a factor in the boom; another indicator that CIOs and other IT leaders should work together to develop a social media policy.

The predicted popularity, however, may be hindered by a number of factors, including a lack of public Wi-Fi services.

"There is a lack of public Wi-Fi, particularly in emerging markets which has been a smartphone saviour in the USA and other developed markets," Einstein said.

The predictions come despite recent research suggesting an investment in mobile commerce is low on the IT agenda of the online retail industry.