Believe it or not, it’s the memory cards and not the headsets, cases or some other mobile phone accessory that will account for the most user purchases this year. According to ABI Research, revenue from memory card shipments is expected to be over $7 billion in 2007, compared with $5 billion expected from headset shipments including both Bluetooth and wired headsets.
It kinda makes sense when you think about it — only few high-end phones like the iPhone, upcoming Nokia N95 8GB, N81 GB, and Sony Ericsson W960i Walkman phones have storage capacity large enough for all the music, image and video files you’d want to keep on your device. On the other hand, basically all mid-range and even some low-end handsets have microSD slots for storage expansion. As a matter of fact, I bought additional memory for my phone way before a Bluetooth headset…
ABI Research’s full release follows after the jump.
PRESS RELEASE – Revenue from shipments of removable memory cards for handsets is expected to be over $7 billion in 2007, compared with $5 billion expected from headset shipments including both Bluetooth and wired headsets, according to a recent study from ABI Research. Memory cards will continue to be the highest revenue-generating mobile phone accessory category over the next five years.
ABI Research industry analyst Shailendra Pandey says, “With few exceptions, memory cards for handsets are bought by users separately from the handset purchase, whereas an increasing number of headsets are now being supplied inbox with the handsets.”
“Earlier handset vendors only provided wired headsets, but now even Bluetooth headsets are being presented inbox with the handsets. Therefore, greater aftermarket sales of memory cards versus increasing inbox sales for headsets are resulting in stronger growth and higher revenue from memory cards when compared with headsets.”
The recent announcement by Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Spansion, STMicroelectronics, Micron Technology, and Texas Instruments of support for the creation of the UFS (Universal Flash Storage) specification for use in mobile phones, digital cameras, and other CE devices is likely to fuel the rapid growth of the memory card market. The UFS standard, expected to be finalized in 2009, will provide a unified memory solution for embedded memory and removable memory cards eliminating the need to have adaptors for different memory card formats.
“In the coming years,” adds Pandey, “a greater number of handset accessories (including memory cards) will be supplied inbox as handset vendors recognize that to boost sales of high-end, feature-rich mobile phones and smartphones, they need to offer accessories that allow users to benefit fully from the multimedia features in those handsets.”
ABI Research expects the market for mobile phone accessories to grow steadily in the next five years, generating over $80 billion in revenue in 2012. The continuing innovation and further advancements in technology coupled with the increasing desire of customers to personalize their handsets bode well for the future of the market.
ABI Research’s recent study “Mobile Phone Accessories” examines the market landscape and future potential for inbox and aftermarket mobile phone accessories. It discusses the various types of accessories, features and pricing, suppliers, and vendor market share analysis for key accessories.