The market for smartphones will grow from around 10% of the total handset market in 2007 to 31% of the market in 2013. A new study from ABI Research projects this meteoric growth to be a product of a number of complex factors including carriers' drives to grow data revenues from advanced services and the general trend to pushing "smart" operating systems down into middle tier devices.

ABI Research vice president Stuart Carlaw comments, "Smart operating systems are continually being optimized to run on processors with lower performance. There is a strategic move to support smart OSes in single chip midrange devices in order to unlock more data revenues." Carlaw adds that, "The market is currently dominated by Nokia (52%) and Symbian (65%). However, the coalescence of the framework wars in the Linux environment and the growing stature of Windows Mobile will enable new competitors to put pressure on this established axis."

The report finds that the iPhone effect is truly filtering through the handset market as other OEMs strive to remain competitive. Features that look set to proliferate and become central to enhancing user interface experiences include touchscreens, touchpads, and accelerometers facilitating tilt and shock sensing, as well as haptics providing tactile feedback.