Asia-Pacific smartphone use set to double by 2016: Ovum

The Asia-Pacific smartphone market is projected double to 200 million by 2016, with Google's Android platform set to emerge as the leader according to an industry analyst.

According to telecoms consultancy Ovum, the increasing popularity of the handheld devices that allow users to surf the internet and access email would mean they would account for almost a third of all mobiles in the region. 

The consultancy further added that despite the continuing success of Apple's iPhone, the Android platform wold overtake it, by far, since it is used on so many devices.

Smartphones' growth is expected to register a compound annual rate of 12.5 per cent between 2010 and 2016 and they would make up about 32 per cent of all mobiles in the region, according to a statement from Ovum.

Global sales, at the same time, are expected to hit 653 million, of which Asia-Pacific would account for 30.7 per cent of the total, it said in a statement.

According to Ovum principal analyst Adam Leach, the smartphone market is expected to grow significantly over the next five years, once again outperforming the wider mobile phone market.