Google gPhone Phone Accessory and Case Market

With the market for mobile phone accessories estimated to meet or exceed $32 billion this year alone, what implications would a free phone and/or services have on that number? I am sure that when ABI Research did their study they hadn’t expected such a new move in the cell phone industry as free, as in lunch.


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Granted the majority of those accessories are for gadgets or attachments that add functionality, but in the interest of protecting their precious devices, most people splurge on a case. Sometimes those cases are just for protection, other times they are just for easier access, often accomplished by adding a belt clip or some sort of other connector for ease of access.



Chances are good though, that if you had a free phone or free service for that phone, which you would want to protect it, and if you didn’t have to pay for service, you would probably be on it all the time, so ease of access would become very important. Another important aspect to look at is branding, I mean, chances are good that when Google releases the gPhone it will not be some cheap $20 phone, so a case featuring the Google logo would be a status symbol of sorts.


Also, since Google’s gPhone will include an upgraded web browser and optimized versions of most of Google’s software, a search parameters list on the inside of a case would be nice for those less familiar with the search engine. The list could include functions, conversions, and the syntax list to get the most functionality out of your search.


So in my opinion, ABI Research’s expectations of mobile phone accessories markets to grow steadily might get spiked by the release of Google’s gPhone. Particularly the market for cases displaying the already-coveted gPhone.


James Allan Brady