O2UK’s Director of Devices and Solutions suggests trends for 2009
By Ben Robinson on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 5:55 AM PST In Announcements, O2
Mobile Today has managed to get a quote from O2UK’s Director of Devices and Solutions – in that quote, Ian Clarke says that the iPone has acted as a catalyst for design, interface, and also the usage of mobile data – and this has spurred other manufacturers on.
Mr. Clarke also says that 2009 will even more innovation on touchscreen, plus (more advanced) cameraphone functions. Things like face detection, on-device editing, are those advanced features which have started to appear – driven by a trend of consumers wanting a camera and phone in one apparently.
Apparently there will also by more Android devices, and then from an economic perspective, customers keeping their devices longer – meaning that at contract renewal it will be an incentive from the network, rather than a handset, that could keep the user on the network. Finally, there will also be more a focus on environmental options.
Personally, I think he’s on the money in all cases here – be they smartphone or not, more devices will come with touchscreen, and better cameras. Also, I presume we can take the Android comment to mean that O2 (NYSE: TEF) will be launching one or more Google (NSDQ: GOOG)-powered devices this year.
But I think the most telling point here is the economic one – moving from a culture of subsidised handsets and more expensive contracts, to cheaper ones without the contract. Being an O2 sub myself, this is exactly what I have done with the simplicity tariff, and so far I am loving it! And because I am using my existing handset, it’s environmentally friendly too, since I’m not adding to the devices stockpile 
What are you thoughts for trends in 2009? Any killer initiatives out there that you think will dominate the industry….?
[Via: Mobile Today]
