Touch-screens are becoming most popular in growing mobile device market. They can be found in a variety of fixed and portable devices, especially the Apple (News - Alert) iPhone and its other products.

 

In 2007, the shipment of touch-screen based mobile devices increased 91 percent over 2006. According to ABI Research’s (News - Alert) forecast, the revenue generated from the touch-screen market for mobile phones and other handheld devices, such as mobile Internet devices (MIDs), ultra mobile personal computers (UMPCs), and portable navigation devices (PNDs) will reach $5 billion in 2009. 

 

Recently, ABI Research released a new report, “Touch Screens in Mobile Devices,” examining various touch-screen technologies that are suited for a variety of mobile device form factors and sizes. The report also forecasted the penetration of resistive, capacitive and other competing touch screen technologies in mobile handsets, portable navigation devices, personal digital assistants, ultra mobile personal computers, mobile Internet devices, and tablet PCs.

 

According to Kevin Burden, research director at ABI, almost all mobile handset manufacturers are getting into touch-screens to a greater or lesser extent. The acceptance of touch-screens has also varied by geographic region, which is a significant factor that determines the success of individual handset vendors.

 

Samsung holds 33 percent, Motorola holds 30 percent and Sony Ericsson (News - Alert) holds 24 percent of the market share for touch-screens on mobile phones. All other handset vendors, including Apple, are essentially niche players, the report said.

 

“Samsung (News - Alert) and Motorola lead the market for touch screen phones primarily because of their scale and significant presence in the Asian markets,” Burden said. “Because it’s difficult to represent even a fraction of the common Asian characters on a QWERTY-style keyboard, touch screen devices on which characters can be written with a stylus are immensely popular. The Asia/Pacific market consumed more than 80 percent of the world’s touch screen-based mobile phone production over the past year.”

 

A number of factors are driving the adoption of touch screen-based mobile devices. One factor is consumer demand for more intuitive user interfaces and personalization options device functionality increases. Another factor is falling prices for touch components and panels; on average such prices fall 10 percent per year.