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Worldwide Smartphone Users Cross 1 Billion Mark

Reportedly, there are a total of 1 billion smartphone users in the world right now. The latest report was revealed by Strategy Analytics which is a Research and Consulting firm. The analyst firm stated that the 1 billion mark of smartphone users in the world was reached on the third quarter of 2012. The study credited Apple for catalysing the industry growth. The report was announced just weeks after Facebook announced its user base to have crossed 1 billion.

The report stated the smartphone industry to have taken a total of 16 years for crossing the 1 billion mark. The report however stated that the next similar milestone will be achieved in less than three years. Neil Mawston, Executive Director at Strategy Analytics stated that a vast majority of people in the global population still does not have any access to smartphone.

This throws light on the huge demand and scope for the smartphone industry to exponentially grow in emerging markets such as China, India and Africa. He also stated the iPhone which was introduced in the year 2007 to have revolutionized the smartphone design. Nokia Communicator was the first smartphone to be released in to the international market, during 1996. The report stated that the demand for smartphones have been exponentially growing since then.

The record sales were achieved by Apple’s latest smartphone iPhone 5, which sold over 5 million units within the first three days of its official launch on September 21. The firm stated that even though the figures looks quite impressive, the fact remains that about only one in seven people own a smartphone as of now and the penetration rate to be relatively lower than the standards.

Smartphone industry is definitely on its way to further growth with more manufacturers coming up with devices running on operating systems such as Android, iOS, Windows 8 and Symbian Belle operating system.