What has been labelled the ‘iPhone effect’ has steadily been encroaching on the minds of mobile phone developers. New handsets are increasingly choosing to add features that directly compete with Apple’s touchy-feely interface and entertainment functionality. Of the features that are most likely to become popular are the touch screen and touchpad interfaces as well as the accelerometers that measure the tilt of a device are likely to become widespread. The ability of mobile handsets to provide tactile feedback and entertainment choices to users is of course the ultimate goal.

The ‘smart phone’ market has grown in the last twelve months mainly due to the iPhone. It is believed the market will grow by ten percent this year and a further thirty percent in the next five. Consumers want these types of phone due to the desire of operators to increase their data revenues and the general increase in demand. The technology has allowed sophisticated operating systems to run on relatively low processing power; this in turn has meant phones are more data (music, video and text) focussed, meaning companies can provide this data at a premium.

The market is currently dominated by the phone giant Nokia but the status quo is changing rapidly with firms such as Apple and Microsoft benefiting from developing handsets and mobile software. Music phones are where the largest market is currently in operation with many people wishing to combine the functions of communication with audio entertainment. Last year 300 million more music phones were shipped than their personal Mp3 player counterparts.

It is believed that in just three years nearly half of the mobile phone market will be dominated by phones with music functionality showing that consumers want twin-functions with their mobile devices. As more and more people choose to combine their audio library with their phone through memory card provisions this trend is almost certain to continue; arguably the iPhone is the first in a new generation of entertainment focussed mobile phones.

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