If you’re not reading this story on a laptop or netbook, chances are you’re among the growing number of cell phone users checking it out on a smartphone. Internet phones are poised to constitute two-thirds of all mobile handset sales by 2016, another market research firm is predicting.

 

Falls Church, Va.-based Telecom Trends International’s latest report reveals that sales of regular handsets “will continue to decline” as smartphone sales increase.

 

“We are witnessing a paradigm shift in the way people use the mobile phone,” said Naqi Jaffrey, author of the newly released “Global Smartphone Market” report.

 

Smartphone sales will show a robust growth of more than 28 percent through 2016, and will no longer be confined to a niche market. Two of the reasons why, according to the 124-page report, is falling prices and the availablitiy of new features and applications.

 

Telecom Trends wasn’t the only firm this week to predict the rise in smartphone sales.

Earlier this week, In-Stat issued its own report predicting that more than 60 percent of all the Internet-connected mobile devices sold will be through carrier channels – as early as 2013.

 

The organization’s latest study, “Mobile Graphics & Multimedia Review,” reveals that carriers are becoming a significant channel for all Internet-connected mobile devices, including netbooks and mobile PCs. For carriers, the benefits of selling high-end, high-tech phones is obvious: There’s a much bigger revenue potential for data services.

 

As smartphone services are bundled for multiple devices and service prices decrease due to increased bandwidth and competition, the number of devices sold through major carriers will continue to increase, too.

 

For example, “in the U.S., carriers are charging up to $60 per month for a two-year contract with the subsidized purchase of a netbook,” said In-Stat (News - Alert) analyst Jim McGregor. “While the subsidy costs the carrier $50-$100, it generates $1,440 or more in service fees over the life of the contract.”