Mobile phone sales have started slowing down according to the BBC. Phone sales will hit a billion worldwide next year, but the massive growth of the last decade will begin to slow.

I think the cell phone industry has done a great job marketing cell phones as fashion statements, which should help them going forward. The tech won’t be improving by leaps and bounds anymore (it’ll still advance, but incrementally I imagine), so getting people to buy more cell phones is going to be more like getting people to buy new cars. The old cell phone (like the old car) might still work fine, but cell phone companies will try to make people feel bored with the old model, or inadequate because they don’t have as nifty a phone as their coworker.