Social networking boom for mobile phones

As such the explosion of internet based social websites has led to the rise of a new trend of Social Networking going mobile.

Mr. Sandeep Saihgal, General Manager of Mobile Phones at Samsung Gulf Electronics, commented, "Research shows that social networking sites are exploding globally and more specifically within emerging markets. 1COM Score reports that the greatest year-on-year growth of social networking subscriptions comes from the Middle East and Africa region with a 66% increase followed by Latin Americas regions with 33%."

"Samsung is committed to launching a high end diverse product line up equipped with the latest technology. The rise in mobile social networking means that being connected to sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace via your mobile is a must have feature for everyone. "Mr Saihgal added, "Based on the market needs, we have launched a wide range of touch screen smartphones such as the recently launched Star WiFi, Omnia II, I8910 HD and the yet to be launched Corby."

With WiFi connectivity, Samsung I8910 HD, the world's first mobile phone with high definition capabilities enables the user to capture precious moments in HD (720p) quality and directly upload HD videos to the various social network sites.

Equipped with 12 mega pixel digital camera, Samsung Pixon12 enables to take perfect pictures quickly. With Samsung Share Pix, lets users easily upload images and videos to popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, MySpace, Photobucket, Friendster - a breeze. Add to that, the phone's high-connectivity functions including Wi-Fi and HSUPA capabilities mean that user's photos can be shared to their friends in no time.

Research forecasts that over 800 million people worldwide will access social networking websites via their mobile phones by 2012 compared to 82 million in 2007. By offering cutting edge technologies in mobile phones and PDAs such as 3G, HSDPA and mobile broadband, WiFi access and GPS, mobile social networking is gaining popularity with pre-installed applications and user-friendly interfaces.

"Consumers are increasingly looking to connect to social networking sites from their mobile phone; studies have confirmed that 55 to 60 million people globally already use their mobile phones to access social network sites. It is expected that approximately 18% of mobile users will access social networks from their phones by 2012. New generation mobile phones provides unparalleled levels of convenience and flexibility with no cables or wires attached. With the inclusion of internet connection and satellite technologies in mobile phones, users are now able to enjoy constant connection to the world on the move. As research predicts, it is expected to have all PC online activities would migrate it mobile phones in the future," Mr. Saihgal added.

Samsung will continue to launch a cutting edge touch screen smartphones enhanced with the best social networking services combined with advanced multimedia capabilities in a compact form factor providing the consumer with the ultimate social networking experience.