1.The Rise of Smartphones and App-stores

□ Smartphones, which can run various application software, have emerged as a major driving force behind the growth of the mobile phone industry.

- The mobile phone industry has achieved continuous technological development, which has served as the basis of the growth for the smartphone industry.

• The size of the global mobile phone market shrank 5% from a year ago, with 1.13 billion mobile phones sold in 2009 compared to the 1.19 billion units sold in 2008. In contrast, the smartphone market has grown 15.1% for the same period. The number of smartphones sold in 2009 was 170 million units.

• In the first half of 2010, smartphone shipments rose to 120 million units, a 54% year-on-year increase. This rapid growth should continue in the last half.