IDC: Smartphone Market To Grow 55% In 2011

In its latest forecast, technology research firm IDC expects the global smartphone market to grow 55% to 472 million units shipped in 2011 as users increasingly trade feature phones for more advanced handsets.

That figure will nearly double to 982 million by the end of 2015. Falling average prices, more phone features and lower-cost data plans will all help smartphone sales grow at four times the rate of the overall mobile phone market this year. "The smartphone floodgates are open wide," said Kevin Restivo, an IDC senior research analyst covering mobile. "Mobile phone users around the world are turning in their 'talk-and-text' devices for smartphones as these devices allow users to perform daily tasks like shopping and banking from anywhere."