Phone makers look to emerging markets for growth

It is also working with Qualcomm Inc. on blueprints for any phone maker to quickly design a Windows phone. While global brands such as Apple and Samsung reign in industrialized countries, smaller, regional manufacturers thrive in emerging markets because of lower distribution costs and better tailoring to local needs.

Internet services also see opportunities in finding the next few billions in emerging markets.

In fact, getting the smartphone and the connectivity is just the beginning, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during Monday's keynote. More important, he said, is giving people a reason to connect: basic financial services, access to health care information and educational materials. He sees Facebook as the "on ramp" to all those services.

In many ways, emerging markets provide unmatched opportunities.

Apple has insisted on making premium smartphones. Even last fall's iPhone 5c was just $100 cheaper, at $549, than the more-advanced iPhone 5s. That's way beyond the reach of many people in poorer countries.

"They are focusing on the premium segment," Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing told The Associated Press. "Their market has become mature, saturated. So now, if you want to further grow, you must focus on those emerging markets, particular those poor people."

He said Lenovo releases 40 or 50 smartphones a year to meet the diversity of needs in those markets.

Making cheap phones available will help companies expand in developed countries, too. Even in the U.S., not everyone wants or can afford a high-end smartphone, Sony Mobile President Kunimasa Suzuki said in an interview.

But emerging markets also pose challenges unfamiliar in the industrialized world.

The easy one to solve is to support two SIM cards in the same phone. Pricing and plans vary so much in emerging markets that it's common for people to use different carriers for different circumstances. The Moto G, the Nokia X and Sony's new Xperia M2 phone support that, and Microsoft will enable that in Windows Phone this spring.