Smartphones(THL W6) and tablets are revolutionizing the social habits and the technology business, and enlighten the new generation of ultra-fast internet

Plummets computer sales. Revenues plummet and outcomes of the major mobile operators. The displace whatsapp email. Descend the sale of books, music or DVD, while the applications market soars. Microsoft, the father of the software industry, and Nokia, once the world's largest manufacturer of mobile, desperately trying to catch embrace the last boat before sinking his old titanic. When it seemed that Apple's reign would last a thousand years, thanks to its iconic iPhone and iPad, Samsung appears, some Koreans previously known for their TVs, they snatch the scepter totter mobile and make the price of the apple brand. And all this, and even more strange phenomena that lie ahead, smartphones are at fault, or smartphones, the device / habitat most popular in the history of mankind.

Smartphones(THL Mobile) have become the "center of personal digital life", as the report's information society 2012 Telefónica Foundation. His omnipresence is needed almost no longer a threat to our privacy, the operator know where your paid 24 hours a day, but to our own identity. 80% of users sleep with their smartphone and 40% have changed by the magazine when you visit the bathroom (Intel study, April 2012).

The smartphone(THL W6 MTK6577) has become the first screen by moving to television, even in moments of prime time (prime time). In the recent end of the Superbowl, the most important television event of the year in the U.S., viewers migrated en masse to their smartphones or tablets when the oval ball was not in play. Only the initial intervention Beyonce kept them glued to the TV when the players of San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens were not in action.

The advertisers, who pay four million dollars for a 30-second spot, have seen their potential clients spent the four-inch screen of their phones. In the intermediate commercial use applications grew 19% over the previous edition of the Superbowl, and sent 24 million Twitter messages related to the event, according to research firm Flurry specialized.

No, do not call cell phones, because they are not. Moreover, as time passes are used less as phones and more for all types of utilities. Making and receiving calls is no longer their primary function. As says Javier Nadal, Executive Vice President of Fundación Telefónica, "users are using different devices based on time of day, for example, the mobile device is more used to connect to the Internet at awakening and at breakfast and lunch, while at other times it is the dominance of the tablet PC and appears strong. "

In an increasingly digitized world, personal communication goes increasingly into the background: the social network users communicate daily with other people through these (23 individuals on average) than in person (16 individuals).

That explosion of mobile connectivity occurs precisely in a framework of crisis that the sector is not immune. In 2012, for the first time ever, decreased sales of mobile phones. It traded 1.7% lower (1.750 million units). That milestone negative due to the decline of basic phones, those are only used for little more than talking and texting. In September last year were sold for every 10 basic smartphones, according to Gartner. But that situation is about to change. In 2013 the proportion was just invest and 1,000 million smartphones sold compared to 900 million the basics.

The splendid start of the tablets as younger brother of smartphones, but it exceeds in inches, is changing the habits of users and, more importantly, consumers. Electronic commerce is rapidly moving from e-commerce to m-commerce. In the fourth quarter, transactions both smartphones and tablets from the U.S. accounted for 11% of total e-commerce spending.

For if 2012 was the year of smartphones, most experts predict that 2013 will be the tablets. Digitimes Research estimates that, for the first time, the sale of tablets, adding the brand and the white (made to third parties, for example, for operators) - overtake the laptop. The market will grow by 38.3% to total sales of 210 million units. That transition to finer screen has already occurred. Two out of six computers sold in the last quarter of 2012 were tablets, according to Canalys.

By contrast, in 2012 sold 352 million PCs, down 3.2%, the first annual drop since 2001, according to IDC. Even the appearance of Windows 8, the new operating system from Microsoft, has been able to stop the decline.

Parallel to this change, there was also a complete reversal of the protagonists. There are new players, but the leadership and do not last decades. Apple, which looked like it had come to stay, has sunk knee to competitors. As a manufacturer, Samsung has demonstrated its Galaxy line that there is life beyond the iPhone. The South Korean firm dominated the world market not only phones, but smartphones, with more than 200 million units, compared to 120 million iPhone.

But more worrisome for the brand founded by Steve Jobs is the brand new reign of Android, Google's operating system used by most manufacturers. The robotito green logo system is installed on 68.8% of smartphones distributed in 2012, gaining nearly 20 points in a single year, and leaving far behind iOS, Apple's own system, which has a share of 18.8%.

"Android is now a very strong demand. Round 90% of the market by value and 70% by volume, and so we work with it, but this does not contemplate other alternatives, "says the director of the division of LG Mobile Spain.

And is that operating systems are the gateway to the stores, where it ends the dream world of total and free consumer decides his wallet. Although AppStore is still the leader in number of applications and revenue, Google Play, store finder, it is gaining ground. It has almost the same catalog (700,000 compared to 800,000 applications from rival). In the fourth quarter doubled their discharges, while those of AppStore grew 20% (AppAnnie).

Although the physical universe is moving the airwaves, in the business what substance is who eats the largest part of the pie. Operators, which until now caught most of the revenue generated mobile telephony, are reducing their share every year, and in mature markets such as Europe, also its billing. According to Wireless Intelligence, Worldwide sales of mobile operators increased by 5.2% in 2012, to $ 1.16 trillion, but only thanks to the boost from emerging markets, which now account for four out of five new mobile connections global scale.

It is also changing the structure of earnings. The consultancy Ovum estimates that voice revenues, which now represent 64% of the total, are only 52% in 2017. The growth of mobile broadband will mean rising incomes, at an annual rate of 8.2% expected by 2017.

Outside of business applications, with users willing to spend their savings on the latest smartphone while pressing for more affordable flat rate, operators still have not given the key to retain their share of the pie. Only called Over The Top (OTT) services such as messaging and free calls as WhastApp, Skype or Line will have a negative impact on operating income of 370.000 billion dollars by 2020.

At the same time, are operators which almost alone should make a huge investment effort to lay new fiber optic lines and mobile fourth generation (LTE), necessary to absorb the exponential traffic growth as causing intruders Google or Apple. In 2011, revenues from Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook reached 200 000 million, compared with 350,000 million top five global operators (Vodafone, AT & T, China Mobile, Telefonica and Verizon).

Only the application market in the world accounted for more than 15,000 million dollars in 2012 and is estimated to reach more than 24,000 million this year. "Revenues are concentrated mostly in the platform / store in the operator, which only benefits the traffic generated by the application, depending on the customer's rate plan, but also indirectly through customer loyalty in the case of apps high demand, "says Pedro Jurado, director of Accenture Technology.

Jose Arias, vice president of the consulting firm Booz & Company in Spain, warning that "the current infrastructure are reaching a saturation point, forcing aggressive investments in both capacity increases and technological improvements. Given the rate of annual growth of mobile data traffic, close to 80%, and 28% in fixed networks, it is expected that the volume of data traffic in the world will double every two and a half years. "

To assume that increased traffic and new services, operators face the challenge of launching the fourth generation of mobile known as Long Term Evolution (LTE), which allows download speeds of more than 100 megabytes per second. It requires huge investments monetize OTT tools that benefit from this infrastructure without paying a penny. So far, there are 152 commercial LTE networks across 65 countries, and by the end of 2013 there will be 114 million subscribers, which will double in 2014, according to a Yankee Group report.

"Operators have to invest not only in deploying LTE networks at a pace faster and faster (in a decidedly adverse economic climate), but also must find innovative ways to monetize these new networks, while struggling with the increasingly intense competition from OTT, who want to steal their bread and butter that are voice revenues and messages, "said Declan Lonergan, Yankee Group.

That OTT threat is very real. Voice revenues of mobile operators, which were 769,000 million in 2011, will be reduced by 9% in 2016 despite the increase in subscribers. However, Juniper Research believes that the costly investment required by LTE end up with a reward. 2017, and will account for 31% of global revenues, amounting to 250,000 million euros (in 2012 have involved only around 55,000 million).

For now, head of the deployment are U.S. operators (AT & T, Verizon and Sprint), which provide almost complete coverage in 2014, and the Asia Pacific. Also is activating the LTE terminal market. Almost all manufacturers, with Apple and Samsung in the lead, and have phones in the market. In 2012 it sold 103 million.

Spain will be late again and will have to wait until at least 2015. For now, the only LTE can see and touch in the pilot projects of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ??which begins tomorrow.