Berlin, Feb 21 (IANS): In 2020, the market for smartphones and related mobile services as well as infrastructure in Germany would grow by 2 per cent to 36.4 billion euros ($39.4 billion), according to a forecast by the digital association Bitkom published on Thursday.

Data and voice services would generate the largest share of revenues with a growth of 0.9 per cent to 20.2 billion euros year-on-year, while revenues of smartphone sales would climb to 12.3 billion euros, an increase of 3 per cent, the Xinhua news agency reported.

"Like no other device, the smartphone stands for information, entertainment and productivity and unbroken fascination," said Bitkom executive board member Hannes Ametsreiter.

Around the smartphone "an innovative ecosystem of devices, apps, services and network infrastructure worth billions has been created and continues to grow", added Ametsreiter.

The German digital association assumed that 22.9 million devices would be sold in 2020, a decrease of 0.6 per cent. The average price per device was estimated to rise from 519 euros in 2019 to 536 euros in 2020.

The share of smartphone users in Germany was developing constantly.

"For the overwhelming majority of people in Germany, the smartphone is an indispensable companion in everyday life and useful helper in all situations in life," said Ametsreiter.

According to a recent survey commissioned by Bitkom, 92 per cent saw smartphones as a great relief in everyday life and 80 per cent could not imagine a life without mobile devices anymore.

The German digital association noted that for a majority it was important to be up to date with the hardware. 51 percent of smartphone users had bought a smartphone within the last 12 months.