The figures show that smartphones made up 71.4 percent of mobile phone sales in the 12 weeks ending 22nd Jan 2012.

Dominic Sunnebo, Global Consumer Insight Director at Kantar, commented:

“For the first time ever, you are now in the minority if you don’t own a smartphone.  With more people jumping on the bandwagon, there is huge opportunity for both retailers and manufacturers.”

He continues:

“Android holds on to its lead but Apple is making inroads, increasing its share of the British market from 21.7% a year ago to 29.1% now.  Windows Phone 7 is also creeping up, taking over 2% of the market for the first time with the Nokia Lumia 800 taking the lion’s share.  This looks set to continue with the expected launch of at least two new models at the Mobile World Congress conference.  We forecast this will help it to grow its share to around 8% in the latter half of 2012.”

Global Mobile Traffic

Global mobile traffic grew 2.3 fold in 2011, more than doubling for the fourth year in a row and higher than anticipated.

Last year’s mobile data traffic (which stood at 597 petabytes per month) was over eight times greater than the total global Internet traffic in 2000 (75 petabytes).

Tablet Growth During 2011 & 2016 Predictions

During 2011, the number of mobile-connected tablets tripled to 34 million with each tablet generating 3.4 times more traffic than the average smartphone.

Cisco predicts that by 2016, mobile-connected tablets will generate almost as much traffic as the entire global mobile network in 2012. (1.1 exabytes per month in 2016 compared to 1.3 exabytes per month in 2012).

Smartphone Growth During 2011 & 2016 Predictions

Smartphone usage also grew during 2011, up from 55 MB per month in 2012 to 150 MB per month in 2011.

By 2016 the average smartphone will generate 2.6 GB of traffic per month, a 17 fold increase on the 2011 rates noted above.

Mobile Data Traffic Milestones Over Next 5 Years

The report also outlines the future of mobile data traffic:

• Monthly global mobile data traffic will surpass 10 exabytes in 2016.
• Over 100 million smartphone users will belong to the “gigabyte club” (over 1 GB per month) by 2012.
• The number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the world’s population in 2012.
• The average mobile connection speed will surpass 1 Mbps in 2014.
• Due to increased usage on smartphones, handsets will exceed 50 percent of mobile data traffic in 2014.
• Monthly global mobile data traffic will surpass 10 exabytes in 2016.
• Monthly mobile tablet traffic will surpass 1 exabyte per month in 2016.
• Tablets will exceed 10 percent of global mobile data traffic in 2016.
• China will exceed 10 percent of global mobile data traffic in 2016.

High End Devices Multiple Traffic

It comes as no surprise that the rise of high end devices enables users to consume more data and content, the extend of which is highlighted below:

Windows Phone 7 Marketplace Grows

Windows Phone 7 Marketplace overtook BlackBerry App World for the number of available applications worldwide thanks to an increase in app download during December and January.

Typically the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace saw 1750 more new apps added per week than BlackBerry App World.

Read the full article on the growth of Windows Phone 7 Marketplace and BlackBerry App World from Distimo.

Tablet Demographics 2011

Currently, the European tablet audience is predominantly male standing at 61.9 percent.

Users aged 25 – 34 account for the largest share of tablet share of tablet owners at 22.3 percent, whilst those aged 35 – 44 account for 19.6 percent.

Tablet Ownership Across the EU5

Men are more likely to use a tablet in Germany (65.3 percent) representing the most extreme gender divide across Europe.

The UK, in contrast, has the most equal gender split across EU5, 47.6 percent of all UK smartphone users are female.

Cross Device Ownership Within EU5

Across the EU5, iPhone users are 64 times more likely than an average smartphone user to also own an iPad.

Interestingly, the iPad’s popularity extends ‘Apple Fans’ as a number of other device owners are more likely to purchase an iPad. For example, Motorola owners are 110 percent more likely, whilst LG owners were 80 percent more likely to own an iPad.

The IDC’s latest report also states that vendors shipped over 427.4 million units in Q4 2011 compared to 402.8 million units in Q4 2010. The 6.1 percent growth year over year was higher than IDC’s forecast of 4.4 percent for the quarter.

Kevin Restivo, Senior Research Analyst at IDC, commented:

“The mobile phone market exhibited unusually low growth last quarter, which shows it is not immune to weaker macroeconomic conditions worldwide. The introduction of high-growth products such as the iPhone 4S, which shipped in the fourth quarter, bolstered smartphone growth.”

Top Mobile Vendors, Shipments and Marketshare, Q4 2011

The report also highlights shipments and market share for the largest mobile phone vendors: Nokia, Samsung and Apple.

Nokia Still #1 Mobile Phone Vendor

Nokia is still the world’s number one mobile phone vendor, shipping 113.4 million units in Q4 2011; representing a market share of 26.6 percent. However, this is down from 123.7 million units for the same period 2010, with a market share of 30.7 percent.

Samsung Sees Record Number of Unit Sales

Q4 2011, saw Samsung break the 90 million unit mark for the first time in a single quarter, whilst also breaking the 300 million mark for the first time in a single year.

The release of several high-end devices (Galaxy S II, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Note), mass market devices (Galaxy Y and Galaxy Ace) plus new Windows Phone smartphones (Focus Flash and the Focus S) are noted for Samsung’s success in this period.

Apple Jumps from 5th to 3rd Largest Mobile Vendor

The launch of the iPhone 4S is the primary reason why Apple saw such growth during Q4 2011; representing the company’s highest ever ranking on IDC’s Top 5 Global mobile phone leaderboard.

Emerging markets, such as Brazil, India and Russia, are expected to account for up to 46 percent of worldwide tablet shipments by 2017, an increase from the 36 percent share in 2011.

Jim McGregor, NPD In-Stat Chief Technology Strategist, comments:

“Growth in the emerging markets will be accompanied by competition at lower price points. This will result in significant opportunities for processors that can optimize power and performance while achieving device price points that are often under $100.”

The Rise of Smartphone and Tablet Devices

In the EU5 smartphone adoption has reached nearly 42 percent, an increase of 13 percentage points over the last year.

Of these countries, Spain saw the highest penetrtion with 48.4 percent, followed by the UK with 48.1 percent. Italy, France and Germany followed with 42.1, 38.1 and 34.2 percent respectively.

Competitive Landscape for Operating Systems Across Europe

With high levels of smartphone adoption, the major operating systems are facing more competition than ever. According to the report, Symbian’s hold on the European market has loosened in recent years, seeing instead the likes of Apple and Google gain strength in these markets.

Android is now the second largest platform in EU5, and has tripled in size over the past year whilst Apple has seen an increase of 54.3 percent, bringing it’s total share of the European smartphone market to 20.5 percent. RIM’s European audience has grown by nearly 64 percent over the last year, now sitting at 9.4 percent of the market share.

Choosing a Mobile Device

Interestingly, the report also highlights the considerations consumers make when looking to purchase a smartphone or featurephone. Amongst smartphone owners, the top consideration is the network quality of the mobile service provider, followed closely by overall cost of monthly service.

The operating system and selection of apps available for the device come in joint third and fourth with 7.5 whilst the price of the device comes last with 7.4.

Tablet Growth Across Europe

Across the EU5 region, 6.6 percent of mobile phone owners also owned a tablet in October 2011. As with smartphone adoption, Spain is leading the way with tablet adoption.

Although penetration levels vary across countries, all of the EU5 have similarly sized markets of between 2.9 million and 3.2 million tablet users.

Download the full ‘Connected Europe’ report.

The UK saw the largest increase in smartphone usage from 30 to 45 percent of the total population according to the post on Google’s official mobile ads blog. This rate stands at 38 percent in the US and France, 23 percent in Germany and 17 percent in Japan.

Smartphone Demographics Changing

Smartphone usage among females increased across all five countries whilst smartphone ownership rose among those aged 45+ in the US, UK and France.

Increasing numbers of consumers are using their smartphone devices for Internet access with Germany seeing the biggest increase of daily Internet usage up from 39 to 49 percent.

Japan has the highest percentage accessing the Internet daily on their smartphones at 88 percent; the US has over two-thirds whilst over half of UK smartphone users access the Internet via their mobile on a daily basis.

75 percent of smartphone owners are continuing to use their computers to get online, eventhough research indicates that more consumers in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan use a mobile phone (feature or smartphone) than a desktop or laptop.

Consumers See Tablets as Fourth Screen

Tablet usage has increased across all five countries with the US reporting the highest penetration amongst the total population with 11 percent.

Amongst smartphone owners, tablet usage is higher – hitting 17 percent in the US, 11 percent in Japan and 10 percent in the UK.

The report states that Apple increased it’s smartphone market share in the UK from 22 percent a year ago to 34 percent.

The launch of the iPhone 4S has also driven growth in the US: during the last 12 weeks leading up to Christmas, Apple grabbed the top spot with 44.9 percent of the market. Android came a close second with 44.8 percent.

Dominic Sunnebo, Global Consumer Insight Director at Kantar, commented:

“Apple has continued its strong sales run in the US, UK and Australia over the Christmas period. Overall, Apple sales are now growing at a faster rate than Android across the nine countries we cover.”

As part of it’s annual predictions for the technology industry, Deloitte forecast that increasing amounts of consumers are going to buy an additional tablet device this year; fueling the notion that 2012 will be ‘The Year of the Tablet’.

Jolyon Barker, Global Lead for Deloitte’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications department, stated:

“The tablet explosion has shown little sign of slowing down since hitting the market in 2010 and is set to take the mantle of the most rapid multiple market penetration in history. Around five million tablets will be sold to people who already own one in 2012, generating up to £1.3 billion in revenue for technology businesses.”

Speaking on the widespread adoption of tablets, Barker continues:

“It is worth remembering that it took several decades after introduction for more than five percent of households to have more than one car, phone, radio or TV.”