Smartphones will reportedly grow to make up roughly 60 percent of new handsets sold in the U.S. by 2014, according to the latest forecast data from Pyramid Research.

 

Pyramid Research, the telecom research arm of the Light Reading (News - Alert) Communications Network, offers practical solutions to the complex demands clients face in the telecommunications, media and technology industries.

 

Pyramid Research recently released its Mobile Handset Forecasts. The forecasts found that smartphones will comprise 31 percent of new handsets sold in the U.S. in 2009. Two years ago, the figure stood at 15 percent. Since then, the sales of smartphones has almost doubled in 2009.

 

The reported, called “Why BlackBerry (News - Alert) Will Be No. 1 by 2014,” assumes there will be a dramatic increase in demand for smartphones propelled by increased interest for messaging and mobile Internet-based services on devices with qwerty keyboards, touch screens, HTML browsers, larger screens and sophisticated operating systems.

 

According to Dan Locke, senior Analyst at Pyramid, BlackBerry has nearly 50 percent of the U.S. smartphone market. However, when smartphones' share of new handsets sales double in 2014, Pyramid expects that Apple's (News - Alert) exclusive relationship with AT&T will have ceased. This could effectively make the iPhone available to an additional 200 million U.S. wireless customers. Even if competitors like Motorola, LG, Samsung (News - Alert) and Nokia are able to improve their positions in this segment, it is expected that RIM will remain at the forefront of the U.S. market.

 

The Mobile Handset Forecast from Pyramid Research provide a complete picture of handset sell-through in 46 markets throughout the world. It includes five years of historical data and five years of market projections for metrics like total handset sales, handset sales by network technology, new handset sales, smartphone handset sales, vendor market share and handset ASP.

 

Pyramid's Forecast Services are reliable and robust forecasting tools since they are based on rigorous and time-tested research methodology and data modeling. Clients receive access to more than 1,200 key market indicators updated quarterly covering the mobile, fixed and convergence sectors for nearly 100 countries. In addition, Pyramid Points, complimentary online notes, provide insight into market, business, and regulatory developments in the global telecoms industry.