Devina Joshi, London
The number of active smartphone users has topped the 1 billion mark, five years after the launch of the first iPhone, according to a new research.
During the third quarter of 2012, the total installed base for smartphones worldwide hit 1.04bn, increasing from 959mn during the second quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.
Around the same time a year ago, the total worldwide smartphone active users were 708m.
It has taken 16 years for smartphones to reach the 1bn mark. The Nokia Communicator, a device that first launched in 1996, is viewed as the first smartphone to hit store shelves, paving the way for a host of other companies to follow suit.
"Nokia remained a dominant force in smartphones for over a decade until the arrival of Apple's
iPhone in 2007," says Strategy Analytics senior analyst Scott Bicheno. "The iPhone revolutionised smartphone design and it catalysed industry growth."
One in seven people around the world owned a smartphone during the third quarter of this year, according to an estimate by Strategy Analytics' executive director Neil Mawston. However, penetration is still “relatively low”, creating a market opportunity for vendors.
"Most of the world does not yet own a smartphone and there remains huge scope for future growth, particularly in emerging markets such as China, India and Africa," Mawston says. "The first billion smartphones in use worldwide took 16 years to reach, but we forecast the next billion to be achieved in less than three years, by 2015."
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