Report: Touch Screen Mobile Device Sales Booming

Worldwide sales of touch screen mobile devices will grow 97 percent this year to more than 362 million units, Gartner said in a report issued Friday.

This figure represents a healthy leap from the 184.3 million touch screen mobile devices sold in 2009 and represents the trend of vendors delivering user interfaces (UIs) that are optimized for touch input, as opposed to the old approach of using software overlays, Gartner said in the report.

The iPhone's capacitive touch technology has helped improve the user experience in mobile phone with more natural and intuitive gestures, but older, resistive touch screens are cheaper, which means they'll probably be around for a while, Gartner said in the report.

"As phone capabilities increase, consumers are becoming much more aware of the benefits of touch interfaces, and vendors are responding," said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner, in a statement.

In 2010, touch screen mobile devices sales in Asia/Pacific will exceed 129.1 million units, accounting for 35.6 percent of the global market. Western Europe and North America will account for 26.8 percent and 24.4 percent of worldwide mobile device sales, Gartner said in the report.

The future outlook for touch screen devices looks rosy: By 2013, touch screen mobile devices will account for 58 percent of all mobile device sales worldwide, and more than 80 percent in North America and Western Europe, according to Gartner.

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