Dubai: Taiwanese vendor HTC Corporation has shipped 3,000 of the new model Touch Cruise smartphone to the Gulf for Sunday's launch.
The model will be launched in the UAE first, followed by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states within the next few weeks.
"Smartphones are going to be the main driver for growth in the mobile phone industry. Sales will remain healthy during the recession as fewer mid-range devices compete for buyers' attention and pricing becomes more attractive, while consumers will come to believe that they will be getting more value for their money by buying high-end devices," Vishnu Vardhan Madabhushi, Executive Director, HTC Middle East and North Africa, said.
"The company has been growing 30 per cent year-on-year and this year has been sustainable. So far, the year has been good and the economic crisis has not affected the company much as we have a strong profile," Vishnu said.
He said, quoting an analyst report, that the UAE's mobile penetration rate is expected to rise to 200 per cent to 10 million users this year at a compound annual growth rate of 8.5 per cent till 2012.
Oman is expected to grow at an annual rate of 15.3 per cent and Qatar at 11.9 per cent.
"It is the first mobile phone to offer HTC Footprints, an application experience that enables people to permanently chronicle their special moments by capturing a digital postcard on their phone. Once captured,
Footprints provides the ability to take notes and an audio clip of that favourite restaurant or special place while identifying its specific geographical location. In addition to identifying each postcard with its specific GPS co-ordinates, Footprints also auto-names each postcard with its general location or area," he said.
The touchscreen phone, with a retail price of Dh2,399, also offers nine Arabic applications such as Quran, prayer timings, Al Duaas, Arabic notes, Xmail and Xmessaging and Hijri calendar.
The HTC Touch Cruise is also an advanced in-car navigation system. When placed in its accompanying car cradle, the HTC Touch Cruise automatically transforms its user interface into an easy-to-use, one-touch interface that provides seamless turn-by-turn directions.
Research firm Informa Telecoms & Media forecasts that the Middle East handset market will be worth Dh30.2 billion this year, an increase of 7.92 per cent compared to $7.58 billion last year.
Matthew Reed, Analyst Mobile Markets, Informa Telecoms & Media, said: "The growth of the mobile handset market value will be essentially driven by the smartphone segment, which will see double-digit annual growth until the final year of the 2008-2013 period.
HTC expects to sell Android phone G1 in the Gulf in the second or third quarter of this year and Touch Diamond2 in April.
This year the company expects to launch nine models, compared to 11 models last year.
