The rise of the smartphone culture in the mobile phone market has brought about a significant demand for touchscreen handsets. A recent survey conducted by Canalys of over 3,000 mobile phone users across France, Germany and the United Kingdom revealed that 38% of consumers now look for finger-based touchscreens and a further 17% keen on stylus-based touchscreens.

With well over half of the mobile phone users surveyed preferring touchscreen mobile devices it gives a considerable advantage towards smartphone manufacturers. It would appear that owners of HTC and Apple smartphones are the happiest with their current handsets. This is partly driven by the marketing of these particular products, but there is no denying that the likes of the iPhone, and HTC Magic and HTC Hero have contributed to breaking new ground.

On the other hand there remains a section of users who are struggling to adapt to the latest handset enhancements. There is an underlying fear that a poor user experience with one particular touchscreen handset will dissuade them from purchasing another in the future. As well as the visual appeal of a mobile, consumers still appear to prefer an easy-to-use interface and this is why the transition has not been a complete success as yet.

Canalys Vice President, Mike Welch admits: "We are at a critical time in the mobile industry.

"The user awareness and interest is clearly there, and the opportunity to drive a mass change in user interaction, and hence device capabilities and the opening up of new application and service revenue streams, is tantalisingly close. But only if users continue to embrace these new UIs once they have tried them."

There is considerable competition between smartphone manufacturers in the fourth quarter of 2009. The Palm Pre has hit the shelves and has already been dubbed a potential 'iPhone killer'. Meanwhile, further HTC mobile handsets are being marketed and heavily advertised in the build-up to Christmas rush.