This Is the End for Phones

Someday, we'll all have smartphones. When, precisely? That's impossible to know, but we may be closer than most think. New research from IDC projects that smartphone shipments will account for 50.1% of the market in 2013, attaining a majority for the first time in history.

There's likely to be no going back. Low-cost handsets are already making the rounds overseas thanks to The Mozilla Foundation and its Firefox OS, a free and pure HTML5 alternative to iOS and Android and a likely disruptor to Nokia .

Despite teaming up with Microsoft to bring Windows to smart handsets, the Finnish phenom still derives nearly two-thirds of its revenue from plain old mobile phones.

Who will profit from smartphones' increasing dominance? Will Nokia play a meaningful role in this brave new world? The Motley Fool's Alison Southwick asks Tim Beyers of Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova for his perspective in the following video. Please watch, and then leave a comment to let us know what you think.

Nokia's been struggling in a world of Apple and Android smartphone dominance. Now that the company has banked its future on a new generation of Windows smartphones, Motley Fool analyst Charly Travers has created a new premium report that digs into both the opportunities and risks facing Nokia to help investors decide whether to buy or sell. To get started, simply click here now.

The article This Is the End for Phones originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Tim Beyers is a member of the Motley Fool Rule Breakers stock-picking team and the Motley Fool Supernova Odyssey I mission. He didn't own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article at the time of publication. Check out Tim's Web home and portfolio holdings, or connect with him on Google+, Tumblr, or Twitter, where he goes by @milehighfool. You can also get his insights delivered directly to your RSS reader.Alison Southwick has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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