The mobile phone industry is on the edge of a new growth phase, with handset selection and features to improve by next summer, said a senior executive of Nokia the world's largest mobile phone maker.
"The mobile phone sector has a unique period of growth behind it, but the next (period) is already coming," Mr Matti Alahuhta, president of Nokia Mobile Phones division, was quoted as saying in Finnish newpaper Turun Sanomat.
"Already within half a year there will be devices on the market that use completely new technology and combine different technologies," he said.
Mr Alahuhta added that knowledge of customers' needs would become increasingly important, with those players who can combine such needs with improved technology and easy use would come out on top.
Nokia has launched few new models as of late, but earlier this month it made its latest attempt to stay ahead of rivals in the struggling telecoms industry by revealing a youth phone that doubles as a music player.
Mobile phone sales are expected to fall for the first time this year to less than 400 million units from over 400 million last year but increase again next year as consumer start buying phones capable of accessing quickly a stripped down version of the Internet.
Analysts have largely written off this year as a year of transition as telecoms operators, after delays, finally move over to higher speed mobile networks and manufacturers launch Internet-enabled GPRS (general packet radio service) phones.