A rapid growth of mobile Internet seems to bring about major change in mobile phone industry, said an industry report released by Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI).

Smart phone manufacturers like Apple, RIM, HTC pose a growing threat to five major players like Nokia and Samsung while Symbian and Windows Mobile are challenged by Google Android. More hardware companies and Internet companies are providing mobile content which had been provided mostly by portal services of wireless carriers.
 
SERI anticipated that Internet access from portable devices would outnumber access from personal computers by 2012 thanks to increasing use of mobile Internet. It estimated that mobile Internet users would increase to 550 million by 2008 and to more than 1.5 billion in 2012.
 
To catch up the big wave, industry players, especially among mobile phone and personal computer manufacturers, compete to seize the window of “Internet access opportunity”. Since Apple launched iPhone in the end of 2007, handset makers are competitively developing mobile Internet devices capable of Internet full browsing, said SERI.
 
Nokia declared transformation into a “service provider” and began providing map, music, game, file sharing service on Ovi. More companies are going beyond their traditional business areas. For example, Google developed open mobile platform Android and Amazon launched Kindle eBook computer appliance, said SERI.
 
Currently, mobile phones are evolving into Internet device due to 3G service expansion, lower or fixed mobile rates, and increasing availability of full browsing Internet devices and mobile content, said SERI. A trend of open and distribution becomes more visible across the value chain of mobile service, mobile phone platform, and content, added SERI.

Source:telecomskorea