Cellular-telephone companies are feeling market pressures from the economic downturn and the cultural shifts attending that downturn. These new pressures are worsening conditions for an industry already stressed by too many competitors and by technology’s typical drive for more and more at lower and lower prices.
Apple’s success in allowing programmers outside the company to developapplications for the iPhone has launched a healthy market for cellphone applications – small pieces of software that enable a cellphone to perform some diverting or functional service. These apps are becoming popular for all smartphones, and as a result, entertainment on the cellphone – whether it be movies, TV programming, music, communications and new apps – is providing some market dynamism to combat the overall contracting fortunes of the cellphone industry.