Juniper Research: Cheap Phones Are Big Business

A new report from Juniper Research forecasts that by 2014, annual sales of low-budget mobile devices will rise to north of 700 million units, up 22% from this year. The report goes into the various schemes that have been implemented to help 'connect the unconnected', or the estimated 3 billion people on the planet that do not own mobile phones. Apparently, the key to be able to tap into this vast pool of potential customers in these so-called 'emerging markets' lies in drastically reducing the cost of handsets that can be used by low-income users.