App stores to drive smartphone growth

Juniper reckons high-end devices will account for nearly a quarter of the market by 2013.

Moreover, Juniper Research says sales of high-end devices will remain healthy during the recession as fewer mid-range handsets compete for buyer attention and pricing becomes more attractive.

But the company says device vendors are seeing falling margins on handset sales and need to diversify into service provision with high-value content.

Juniper analyst Andrew Kitson, said: “As vendors increasingly open up the operating system software on their devices, so will the rate at which mobile handsets evolve into personalised internet-centric mobile computers gather momentum.

"In this way, users are having an indirect impact on the way in which devices are changing their form and function as well as how they interact with their surroundings. Very soon, the majority of new phones will be smartphones.”