Mobile Phones for Christmas

You may not be surprised to hear that this Christmas, like last, mobile phones are going to be extremely popular gifts. But this time around, it is new features, such as picture taking facilities, that will allure shoppers, according to wireless industry analysts ARC Group. Indeed, they predict that, soon, more than 55 million people will be picture messaging as existing users drive the demand for upgraded handsets.

Report author, David McQueen, believes seductive added extras such as rotating camera heads and swivelling screens have proved very attractive, "Along with the advent of multimedia messaging, colour of displays and polyphonic ring tones, we'll see many consumers upgrading their phones this Christmas," he said.

This sales explosion also shows no signs of slowing in the coming years. 130 million are expected to have modern handsets by 2005, and with 3G technologies slowly making their mark, an incredible 250 million will be mobile-savvy by 2008.

But while camera phones grow in popularity in the UK and across Europe, Asia is still the shining light, both in terms of technology and sales. It is predicted, that by next summer, one in four camera phones sold in Japan will be able to record video.

This is not to say that it will necessarily be plain-sailing for the mobile industry - there is plenty of head-scratching still to be done. The main challenge, says Mr McQueen, is to continue to strike the balance between cost, performance and, of course, that all-important style.