For a few years, it was the Coca Cola television ad with the Clydesdale horses that signalled Christmas; now it’s mobile phone advertisements.

As a product sector, it has proven itself a one-for-all-the-family hit when it comes to gifts, so the blanket feel-good yuletide brand advertising from Meteor, O2, Vodafone and Eircom makes sense.

According to Meteor, 80 per cent of its Christmas sales are for prepay mobile phones.

This year, the company is expecting smartphones to account for about 50 per cent of sales.

The brand’s new Let’s Get Christmassy campaign reflects Meteor’s youthful, fun image, as central character Steve gives his take on traditional Christmas scenes – from rifling through selection boxes to getting underpants from his granny.

Developed by creative team Stephen Rogers and Bobby Byrne at Dublin agency Rotho, it features original music by Brian Crosby, a former member of Bell X1.

O2 is showing last year’s emotive advertisement – it’s still gorgeous – while Vodafone Ireland’s new animated Christmas spot for cinema and television was made by Grey London.

A report from tech analysts Gartner in the US, though, heralds a change in what has for the past few years been a bonanza period for the mobile phone industry.

It predicts that this year new gadgets such as tablets will prove more attractive as Christmas presents than mobile phones.