This month's International CTIA Wireless 2009 event in Las Vegas showcased the mobile handset industry's increasing focus on smartphones, as illustrated by prevalence of announcements related to touchscreen technology, according to iSuppli.
iSuppli forecasts global smartphone unit shipments to reach 192.3 million units in 2009, up 11.1% from 173.6 million in 2008.
Leading the touchscreen parade at CTIA was the showing of a prototype version of the Idou smart phone, from Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB. The Idou features a 3.5-inch, 16:9 ratio 360x640 pixel format resistive touchscreen. Along with voice communications, the Idou combines music and video playback and a 12-megapixel camera.
Samsung, the world's second-largest mobile handset maker, dedicated a significant portion of its CTIA press conference to the subject of its TouchWiz user interface. TouchWiz uses resistive touchscreen technology.
Samsung further unveiled a WiMax based Mobile Internet Device (MID), dubbed Mondi, which also employs the company's TouchWiz technology. Although Mondi supports Wi-Fi, the first generation Mondi is not compatible with SprintNextel's EVDO network.
At its analyst briefing, Kyocera Wireless demonstrated its determination to refresh its brand image, with the announcement of its plan to release a Google Android operating-system-based touchscreen product, and highlighted its intuitive and customizable user interface. The phone, expected to be released in early 2010, possibly uses resistive touch-screen technology.
One much-anticipated touchscreen-enabled smartphone, the Palm Pre, was nowhere to be seen at CTIA. The Pre's backers, Palm and Sprint Nextel, did not even have booths at the event. Rumors have surfaced that Palm is secretly meeting members of the media and other interested parties to showcase the Pre, a development that only adds mystery to the product and its new WebOS and user interface capabilities.
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