Smartphones sales to grow 23% annually in the next 4 years

Smartphone sales are expected to grow 23 percent annually through 2014, representing 37 percent of the total handset shipment, global management consulting firm Booz & Company has said in its study.

"Smartphone sales alone are expected to grow 23 percent annually through 2014, when they will represent 37 percent of total handset shipment, compared with 16 percent in 2009," Karim Sabbagh, Partner and the Global Practice Leader for the Communications, Media and Technology Practice at Booz & Company, said in a statement.

However, Booz & Company said the telecom industry is experiencing a major aftershock following years of significant growth.

Operators must build the next generation of high-speed fixed and mobile networks to keep up with customer demand and to take advantage of the ongoing digitization of virtually every other industry sector - such as healthcare, financial services, and media, Booz & Company said.

It said doing so would require massive investments, especially in fiber-based infrastructure. At the same time, they must invest in innovation and the development of new strategic capabilities.

To meet all these demands, operators must strive to build leaner, more adaptive, modular, multifaceted, and increasingly complex business models, the study said.

Forward-looking business models must be based on a deep understanding of three overarching trends that are driving the industry into the future, namely, customer ubiquity, technology modularity, and industry innovation, it added.