A growth spurt in the smartphone market this year will see worldwide shipments of the devices more than double, according to industry researcher ABI Research.

Premium prices and 'super-sized' form factors have historically combined with a limited demand for advanced data services to restrict smartphones to niche market status.

But ABI Research predicts that 123 million units will be shipped this year, giving smartphones nearly a 15 per cent share of the mobile phone market.

Philip Solis, senior analyst for mobile wireless research at ABI Research, believes that five factors lie behind the growing momentum.

"Increasing demand for robust data communications applications, especially mobile email and instant messaging, will play a role, particularly as 3G speeds enhance the appeal of mobile data services," he explained.

"With increasing sales volumes prices are falling fast, while the choice of models on offer is growing rapidly; 39 per cent more models were available in 2005 than in 2004.

"Even as their functionality expands, smartphones are shrinking in size, offering lower power consumption and longer battery life.

"Finally, Wi-Fi is reaching into the smartphone, and we expect to see a quarter of all models offering embedded Wi-Fi by 2010."

Solis also noted that the shifting tides of operating system adoption will be at least as important as any other factor in determining the shape of the future market.

"With the Palm OS moribund Linux is finding increasing favour, listing industry heavyweights such as Motorola, Samsung, NEC and Panasonic among its backers. Microsoft's Windows Mobile is also gaining ground," he said.

"Symbian OS is currently the hands-down market share winner, but is attempting to stave off competitors by halving its licence fees for volume deals."