The cell phone industry's best days may be behind it, Matt Richtel reports this morning. More than half of the six billion people on the planet already have phones and subscribers are spending
less on phones and services, even in developing countries. As far as subscriber growth in North America goes, "we're awfully close to saturation," says Craig Moffett, an industry analyst
at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
In the
Journal, Roger Cheng writes
that Virgin Mobile USA, which resells wireless service on a prepaid basis, may benefit from an incoming wave of wireless customers looking to escape high monthly bills and annual contracts. But with
most consumers already sporting a cell phone -- or two -- industry observers see a fierce battle in the making. Sprint Nextel's Boost unit fired the first salvo last month -- a $50 flat-rate plan
with no contract.
Motorola, which announced dismal results for the year yesterday -- handset sales fell 26% and global market share eroded from 12.4% to 6.5% -- is pinning its future
on smartphones as consumers transfer their computer activities to mobile devices. Co-CEO Sanjay Jha told analysts that one of Motorola's coming smart phones will center on social networking, for
example, Wailin Wong reports in the
Tribune.
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