According to a recent report, research firm Parks Associates (News - Alert) forecasts over two billion people worldwide will own at least one smartphone in 2015, with unit sales growing over 175 percent from 2010. The report also notes that hardware and software innovations will continue to advance such as dual-facing camera-supported video chat and app-enabled content consumption.

“Smartphones represent a new lifestyle,” said Harry Wang, director of Mobile Research at Parks Associates. “Consumer desire for that lifestyle has accelerated the traditional mobile phone replacement cycle and will drive near-term hypergrowth of the smartphone market.”

The firm's report Smartphone: King of Convergence (Second Edition) says smartphone shipments jumped 70 percent in 2010, with approximately 500 million users.

“Carriers risk ceding revenue streams to emerging competitors in the mobile broadband content and application market,” said Jennifer Kent, research analyst at Parks Associates. “However, market fragmentation may drive enough developers to Wholesale Applications Community, a carrier-initiated, cross-platform mobile app distribution effort, to keep carriers in the game.”

From the article, "Smartphone Sales to Exceed 800 Million by 2015" by Stefanie Mosca