Managed mobile services is a hot market, especially in Europe, according to the latest study from market research specialist ABI Research. The firm forecasts that the European managed mobile services market will total nearly $9 billion in 2009, with the Asia-Pacific region in second place with a market totaling about $5.7 billion. ABI predicts that the total revenue for managed mobile services in 2009 will reach $22.2 billion.
According to ABI Senior Analyst Nadine Manjaro, "Just a few large companies account for the lion's share of the network-related managed services market. Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent are the leaders in this space with both vendors recently announcing new managed services contracts and agreements. Among them: Ericsson's $5 billion contract with Sprint the first major penetration in North America. The company also signed a seven-year contract with Vodafone UK." These results can be found in the ABI Research study, "Managed Services for Mobile Operators."
In a separate report, "Wi-Fi Capable Handsets," ABI forecasts that shipments of dual-mode cellular/Wi-Fi handsets will double between 2008 and 2010, with about 144 million handsets shipped in 2009. The firm is predicting about 300 million of the dual-mode handsets to be shipped in 2011.