On Thursday, local media reported that statistics for the last six months have revealed roaring demand for do-it-all smartphones in Singapore.

According to the three Singapore telecoms-SingTel, StarHub and M1, over the past six months, smartphones like the Apple iPhone, BlackBerry Bold and HTC Hero that permit customers to access email, view YouTube videos, edit Powerpoint presentations and execute other computer-based actions, made an unparalleled 70% to 80% of all cellphone sales.

China's Xinhua News Agency quoted Research Firm, IDC as saying that in comparison, such cellphones report for only 15% of all handsets sold worldwide.

Another Research Organization, Gartner, put universal smartphone sales at 14% of all mobile phone sales.

One reason why such handsets are becoming famous is because smartphones provide their customers an improved way to access the applications, which are frequently used.

Other contributing factors consist of the more appealingly-priced subscription plans proffered by operators, and network improvements that provided users quicker data speeds.

Deeming that smartphones need an extra 3G data plan, which costs around 40 Singapore dollars (US$29) a month, a smartphone consumer will pay roughly 1,000 Singapore dollars (US$719) extra over a typical two-year agreement compared to a lower-end phone customer, using an approximate computation based on telcom's present charges.