A report by Tim Long, analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston crossed my desk this morning. It was somewhat of a bleak take on the wireless handset business in 2003. He fears a lot more competition for the M.E.N (Motorola, ; and Nokia.) The competition is going to come from Asian handset makers, and if you have used any of the new handsets from Samsung or Sharp or even Panasonic, you know why. The new comers are making better looking phones which are easier to use and cheaper. Long says around 450 million handsets were sold world wide, up 14 percent from a year earlier. He feels that in 2003 the total handset sales will be 465 million, and will rise to 525 million in 2005. He predicts a five percent decline in the prices going forward as well – and oh by the way, he is not too impressed with the new color screens and camera. They are nothing but trinkets – not killer applications. That can’t be good news for Ericsson which is having a horrible time these days.