* Smartphones do not have "data requirements." They still work on 2G networks, just slower. While many areas of the developing world still do not have significant cellular coverage (compared to Europe and North America), some providers are already rolling out WiMAX and LTE.

* Most of the population in developed countries, much less the world, do not work in jobs that require their phones to not have cameras.

* Do older people not have smartphones because they do not want/need them, or because of the perception that it cost too much?

I think the point of the article is that as smartphones begin to cost the same as regular phones, we will see a dramatic rise in adoption.

I have my doubts if smartphones can ever cost the same as regular phones. Like @ams6110 said smartphones come cheaper only after it is contracted with a 2 yrs data plan, cause this would only make $$$ sense for both the carrier and the manufacturer.

ps: I own a iPhone 4 which come heavily subsidized with a 2 yr data plan and a $35 non-smartphone which I bought, without any long term contract.

Also, another issue with smartphone is the battery life. They drain out really fast, finding a charger recharge a mobile twice a day just dun make sense in quite a lot of places in the world.

Till these issues are resolved, and unless countries are willingly to upgrade of their telecommunication infrastructure, my guess is that smartphones and non-smartphones are likely to coexist for a quite number of years. Sure, developed countries will continue to upgrade to something like Japan and South Korea.

>I have my doubts if smartphones can ever cost the same as regular phones.

The contract freebie "dumbphones" today are better than the $300 phones from 5 years ago. The oldschool Nokia candybars that placed calls and played Snake aren't even carried in stores anymore. Current smartphones may not dominate in the next two years, but at some point, carriers will just stop offering the current crop of dumbphones and the freebies will provide feature parity with current smartphones.

Though if you get one cheap/subsidized, the carriers I've seen will require a new 2 year contract with a data plan.

> - Most part of the world are still fairly not developed to support the data requirements of smartphones, especially in Africa and Asia.

You would be surprised. Where you can find a cellphone network, you will find a data network. Data is often a place where carriers know they can make money.

What is more, a lot of the equipment is newer (i.e. not as much legacy equipment) since a lot of the networks are new.