It seems like the humble mobile phone is in for an image makeover. Walk around a shopping mall, business district or a college campus?it has become a fairly common sight nowadays to see people texting, making calls and sending emails from their mobile devices, smartphones to be precise. Among these devices, popular choices include the Apple iPhone, Nokia N8, Motorola Milestone or Droid, HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy, BlackBerry Curve and LG Optimus 2X; all of these devices trying to compete for the title as having the best technology in the market.

The fact that smartphones are on their way to become as powerful as present-day laptops is beyond doubt. The reason is simple: Smartphones offer PC-like functionality and these devices have ended the need to carry a separate PDA along with a mobile phone. Additionally, by using dual-core processors, they are able to perform multiple functions such as gaming, video streaming, high-definition video recording and playback and video conferencing.

The Indian consumer, especially the younger lot, is today seeking a device that allows them to do a lot more?both in their personal and professional lives. And for this new breed of technoholics, such all-in-one business smartphones offer a superior ?mobile office? experience coupled with compelling entertainment options. In addition to voice capability, users can browse the internet, check mail, blog, share photographs, update their status on social networking sites, play games and download applications with their smartphones. It seems everyone in business has a smartphone today to keep connected to the office and enjoy their time away from the office too.

It is important to note that today the Indian consumer is not looking for a standalone handset but also for services and experiences that the handset can deliver. In fact, the demand for services is consistent across rural and urban consumers. Both segments want entertainment and commerce-related services. No wonder smartphones are appropriately being spoken of as lifestyle-changing devices.

Vishal Chopra, business head, mobile communications, LG Electronics India, says, ?Smartphones have marked the beginning of a new era and undoubtedly 2011 will be the year of smartphones in India. India market is already witnessing a huge demand for these futuristic devices and this demand will grow tremendously in coming years.?

From a business standpoint, the smartphone market in India is witnessing frenzied action these days. After almost an 11-month wait since it hit stores elsewhere, Apple?s next-generation smartphone, the iPhone 4, debuted last fortnight in India, the world?s second-biggest market for mobile phones. Around the same time, South Korean consumer electronics major Samsung introduced its flagship device Samsung Galaxy S II, claimed to be one of the thinnest Android handset in the market and a successor to the Samsung Galaxy S.

Ranjit Yadav, country head, mobile and IT, Samsung Electronics, says, ?We made our foray into smartphones with the launch of the Galaxy series and the Wave series last year. We have 15 smartphones across the Android-based Galaxy series and the bada-based Wave series. The smartphone range available across the Android, bada and Windows platforms is priced in the range between R8,800 and R32,890. The Samsung Galaxy series based on the Android platform is doing extremely well worldwide and in the India market. We had sold 10 million Galaxy S smartphones within six months of launch. This year, we are focusing on further expanding our smartphone portfolio across the bada, Android and Windows platforms and plan to notch up a 40% market share of the smartphone segment.?

The latest offering from South Korea?s LG Electronics in the smartphone category is the Optimus 2X, which is claimed to be the world?s first dual-core processor phone. Chopra says, ?It is our latest technology and innovation in the product category. Our endeavour in the smartphone category is to bring the latest in technology offerings simultaneously with global introduction in order to give our consumers the best.?

According to the LG Mobiles head, the company has strong product line-up for smartphones and it would be launching close to 12 models under the Optimus category. ?Soon, we will launch Optimus Black, which is the world?s thinnest smartphone, and next quarter, we will launch Optimus 3D, which will be again be the world?s first full 3D smartphone.?

Once the undisputed leader in handsets, Nokia was slow off the mark in smartphones, but it has since regrouped. The almost year-old Nokia N8 has received an overwhelming response and helped more than double the top-end Indian smartphone market. Viral Oza, director marketing, Nokia India, says, ?Our smartphone journey continues with the Nokia E7 and in April this year, we have announced the Nokia E6 and the Nokia E7, two new smartphones aimed at business people and entertainment enthusiasts, respectively. The two devices are the first Nokia smartphones to contain the updated Symbian software, nicknamed Symbian Anna, with new icons and usability enhancements such as improved text input, a faster browser and refreshed Ovi Maps.?

Nokia has a healthy pipeline of Symbian products and expect to sell approximately 150 million more Symbian smartphones and will continue to provide software support for Symbian devices until at least 2016. Oza says, ?We see smartphones as a key growth segment for us and have invested ahead of the curve to address the upcoming market opportunity.? He adds: ?Nokia has partnered with Microsoft to use Windows Phone as our primary smartphone platform. With Microsoft, we plan to bring a combined services portfolio covering location, search, entertainment, social, advertising and commerce. These include Nokia Maps at the heart of key Microsoft assets like Bing and AdCenter, and the integration of Nokia?s content and application store into Windows Marketplace. We expect to ship the first volume of Nokia Windows Phones in 2012.?

With the Indian mobile handsets market expected to grow 25% by volume in 2011 to 210 million units over 2010 sales of 167 million, analysts expect the smartphone market to carve out an even more dramatic growth among Indian users. Indian consumers are expected to buy 12 million smartphones in 2011. ?The sales of nearly 12 million smartphones expected in 2011 represents a near 100% growth over sales of smartphones in 2010. The proportion of smartphones as a percentage of total mobile handset shipments in the India market is expected to grow from 3.6% of 167 million total units in CY (calendar year) 2010 to 5.7% of an estimated 210 million units in CY 2011,? says Naveen Mishra, lead analyst, India telecoms practice, CyberMedia Research.

Some of the key factors that will drive these sales further include the launch of 3G and BWA networks that will drive increased data consumption; replacement market becoming bigger than the first-time user market in India, translating into existing consumers buying more sophisticated phones; and falling smartphone prices on the back of strong demand and a competitive local environment. Social mobility and internet on the go is fuelling the growth of smartphones as well as increasing the relevance of applications and open OS platforms that allow consumers to customise the applications as per their requirements.

Globally too, the shift from feature phones to smartphones is accelerating and worldwide mobile communication device sales to end users totalled 427.8 million units in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 19% from the first quarter of 2010, according to Gartner. Smartphones accounted for 23.6% of overall sales in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 85% year-on-year.

?The Asia-Pacific region became the largest smartphone market region with a growth of 98%, surpassing Europe, Middle East and Africa. The majority of the countries in this region, viz China, South Korea and India, showed a triple-digit growth and shipped strong volumes,? says Yadav.

Till the end of 2010, a top-end smartphone used to be equipped with a 1 GHz processor. Starting 2011, with the use of dual-core processors in smartphones, these devices have become more powerful compared with their predecessors. Smartphones like the Motorola Atrix 4G or LG Optimus 2X use dual-core processors. According to Mishra, a dual-core processor is a combination of two 1 GHz processors that can be used in parallel, giving more power and speed to the device. Though these processors enable more power, a smartphone?s overall performance still depends on the integration of its software with its hardware. For example, how closely the phone?s software and applications are able to interact with its hardware, deriving the maximum advantage of the phone?s hardware abilities. ?The best example is the Apple iPhone 4, which runs on a single-core processor but is able to take full advantage of its hardware abilities,? he adds.

Whichever way you look at it, one cannot deny the rising popularity of smartphones. Whether people are using their smartphones for business purposes or socialising with friends, this apparent staple in today?s tech-savvy society boasts convenience and the ability to stay connected on the go.