Booming Asia smart phone market ringing with opportunities

Key global players such as Research in Motion and Apple have enjoyed growing success in penetrating the Asian smart phone market. Smart phone shipments are expected to more than quadruple, with Asia accounting for 39% of the global smart phone shipments, by 2015. The expansion of 3G networks in large Asian markets such as China and India coupled with greater accessibility to smart phones as they cease to be luxury items with lower retail prices from economies of scale, are both contributing factors to the growth in Asia's smart phone market.

While this growth offers an attractive opportunity, it also creates challenges for many traditional players in the smart phone space. There is increasing competition from Asian handset vendors like Huawei, ZTE, HTC, and Acer in the Asian smart phone market. In addition, the grey market for mobile handsets is much more rampant in Asia than in western markets, giving consumers viable alternatives to more conventional handset purchasing methods. However, these challenges to the estabished players are opening up a booming smart phone market to players who have had trouble competing with entrenched competitors in developed western markets.