According to a recent study by Asymco’s Horace Dediu, Apple iPhone has not captured the 70% of the current world mobile market. Dediu stated that there are 1.5 billion post-paid subscribers whereas the number of pre-paid subscribers are 3.7 billion. This analysis is based upon the data gathered by Deutshe Bank and the ITU.
That means that nearly 70% of the world is not being addressed by the iPhone as it currently stands. Put another way, a shift in positioning might result in a 250% increase in addressable market.
Apple has almost addressed the full potential market is countries like United States and Canada where most of the customers are post-paid. But other countries including Asia which is a big market still rely on pre-paid.
Dediu notes that $200 happens to be the important psychological price inflection point where volumes increase dramatically. Given the constraints on production, and given the improvements in the product and the improvements in the hardware and consider expanding its reach as recent rumours have suggested.