This IDC study presents an update on the mobile devices market in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) or APEJ, along with market sizing data for 2008 and forecast data for the 2009-2013 period. In alignment with expectations of a slower economic outlook, the APEJ market is expected to slip by 411 million units in 2009, a mere 1% increase from 2008. Even as the number of new subscribers in APEJ slows down over the forecast period, market growth is expected to pick up over time and reach almost 580 million units in 2013. In this atmosphere of uncertainty, there continues to be opportunities for growth, 3G handsets continue to pick up momentum, Apple revive an otherwise ailing handhelds market, and converged devices receive ever-greater attention from handset makers across the board.
"With the APEJ mobile phone market already headed into a downturn, the outlook for 2009 is not as rosy as it was a year ago; but all the same, the sheer number of new subscriber add-ons expected in India will help boost the region's phone shipments to retain positive growth in the long run," says Melissa Chau, market analyst, Personal Systems, IDC Asia/Pacific.