As the smartphone market continues to expand to emerging markets and casual consumers in the western world, pricing will continue to drop towards the 100-euro mark later this year.
The Symbian Foundation will be able to brag about low cost smartphones powered by the now fully open source Symbian OS, as the devices reach the market later this year priced at 100 euros (roughly $137). It's not uncommon to find lower-priced phones, but the Symbian 100 euro phone will be unsubsidized, so owners will be able to use it on their choice of carriers.
"Operations [carriers] are crying out for lower-cost smartphones to reduce their subsidy burden and to seed the mass-market with more advanced data devices," said Neil Mawston, Strategy Analytics analyst, in a statement to Reuters. "Lower-cost smartphones will drive up vendors' shipments, but they will simultaneously push down average selling prices and profit margins."
Symbian-powered phones are available in Europe for as low as 120 euros, according to the Foundation, but this extra 20 euro difference could help draw in additional first-time smartphone owners.
Symbian could benefit greatly by having its OS used on lower-priced phones, especially with partners that offer products in emerging nations. Finnish company Nokia has remained loyal to Symbian, and has slashed the price of several phone models, with emerging markets expected to be a major target for the company.
The 100 euro smartphone business isn't expected to have an impact on higher-end smartphones that will still cost anywhere from $100 to $400 more.
