4 bln people own a cell phone and their number is growing

Cell phones have become such an integral part of our lives that we can hardly imagine this is actually not the case in less developed parts of the world. Actually, the percentage of people who don´t have a cell phone is rapidly decreasing or that´s what a survey conducted by EITO (European Information Technology Observatory) reveals. The number of people who don´t take advantage of the technology is expected to drop below 2.4bln or about one sixth of the Earth´s population by the end of 2009. The other two thirds have already had one or more devices and used them for talking, texting, Internet surfing or simply chatting while driving around.

According to EITO, the number of people using mobile handsets has increased by 12% on the last year figure, mainly due to the booming cell phone sales in the developing countries. For an instance, the net gain is stunning in India (34%) and less mind-boggling, but still venerable in Brazil (14%) and China (12%). Since the developing world is actually a growing part of the entire market, it´s logical that the more affordable, feature phones still dominate over smartphones.

source: iTWire