22% of U.S. Smart Phones Sold were 4G Capable

About 22 percent of smart phones purchased by U.S. consumers in the second quarter of 2011 were capable of running at 4G speeds. 


A year ago, just three percent of U.S. smart phones sold could run on a 4G network, according to the NPD Group. 

The top four smart phone 4G manufacturers, based on consumer sales in Q2 2011:
1.HTC: 62%
2.Samsung: 22%
3.Motorola: 11%
4.LG: 4%


What the study did not look at, but seems correct, is that "4G" is not yet a distinct "service." It is faster than 3G, which is good, but not yet in any way a truly different "service" than 3G. So far, 4G is a "better pipe," but just that: a better pipe, as a 10 Mbps connection is better than a 5 Mbps connection. 


For 4G is anything more than "table stakes" for mobile service providers, the end use experience will have to change. So far, that hasn't happened. 

20% of Smart phones Sold in Q2 2011 Were 4G-Capable

Smartphones Have Outsize Impact on Mobility Business

Despite the fact that smartphones have only about 19 percent share of the U.S. handset market, they have outsize importance simply because smartphone use is growing so fast, implies growth of mobile broadband revenue and is key to the hopes new suppliers have for cracking the handset market.

Browsers were used by 29.4 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 2.4 percentage points), while subscribers who used downloaded applications made up 27.5 percent (up 1.8 percentage points).

Some 18 percent used social networking sites or blogs, up 2.9 percentage points to 18 percent of mobile subscribers. About 13 percent report they listened to music on a mobile device. About 22 percent say they played games on their mobiles., up about half a percentage point.

Some 234 million Americans age 13 and older were mobile subscribers, while 45.4 million people owned smartphones in an average month during the December to February period, up 21 percent from the three months ending November 2009.

In an average month during the December through February 2010 time period, 64 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 1.9 percentage points from November 2009 levels, says comScore.

Those differences also are reflected in market share of feature and smartphones. In the broader feature phone market, Motorola has 22 percent share, LG 22 percent, Samsung 21 percent, Nokia nine percent and Research in Motion eight percent.

In the smartphone market RIM has 42 percent share, Apple 25 percent, Microsoft 15 percent, Google nine percent and Palm five percent. Google grew the most over the quarter ending in February, gaining five share points. Apple's share was flat and Microsoft lost five points.

Verizon Droid Launches Today

Verizon Wireless has launched two Android-powered smartphones Nov. 6, 2009. At the top, the much-anticipated Droid retails at $199.99 and is the first Android smartphone to feature the version 2.0 platform.

But Verizon also launched a second Droid-branded device, called Eris and manufactured by HTC. Eris will retail at $99.99.

A successful launch is regarded by many as critical to Motorola's future success, as the company attempts to regain market share.

Verizon also launched a number of other handsets, including the new BlackBerry Curve 8530 (already offered by Sprint), a new LG Chocolate device, and Samsung's Push-To-Talk Convoy.

Droid will the most-important launch, for several reasons. The success of its Android phones is crucial for Motorola if it is to climb back into the top ranks of handset manufacturers. It would be fair at this point to say Android is a "do or die" move for Motorola.

For HTC, the device is less important than the fact that HTC now is trying to build its own brand name, growing beyond its contract manufacturing roots.

Is Mobile Handset Market Heating Up?

Handset shipments suffered another annual decline in the third quarter but are forecast to rebound in the key final quarter of the year, according to Strategy Analytics and IDC. Virtually all observers attribute the slowdown to slower handset replacement caused by consumer caution in the face of the recession.

Strategy Analytics estimates that global handset shipments reached 291 million units in the third quarter, down four percent from 304 million units year over year.

IDC estimates third quarter 2009 shipments totalled 287.1 million units worldwide, down six percent from a year earlier, but up 5.6 percent from the second quarter.

"The mobile phone market is showing the first signs of improvement since the onset of the economic crisis," says Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst at IDC. "During the third quarter, we saw a number of channels promoting older devices at significantly lower prices. For many, this was enough to spur demand and push volumes higher."

Strategy Analytics forecasts that 300 million handsets will be shipped in the key fourth quarter, an increase of three percent increase on the 294 million units shipped in the last quarter of 2008.

"We believe this will be the first time the industry has returned to positive growth since the third quarter of 2008, signalling an end to the handset recession after four quarters of decline," Strategy Analytics says.

Of course, industry-wide averages sometimes obscure market share changes. Nokia sales dipped eight percent, year over year, while Samsung grew 16 percent. LG grew 37 percent. Both Sony Ericsson and Motorola reported declines.

LG TV-to-Mobile Platform Coming

LG Electronics Co. says it has developed a low-cost way for North American TV stations to transmit digital signals to cellphones and other portable gadgets.

LG's technology, which it calls MPH for mobile-portable-handheld, requires TV stations to buy relatively inexpensive add-on devices to their digital transmitters and the makers of cellphones and other portable devices to install a reception chip. The reception technology can also be incorporated into other chips in portable device.

iPhone Not Enterprise Class? Avaya Says It Is

Avaya says its Avaya one-X Mobile unified communications platform will support Apple iPhone. The company also announced the availability of Avaya one-X™ Mobile for RIM, Palm, Java and WAP mobile devices. The first company to announce access to enterprise communications from the iPhone, Avaya now extends this access from the broadest range of mobile devices of any enterprise communications manufacturer today.

Avaya one-X Mobile unites enterprise and mobile networks, allowing the two to work together more effectively while increasing the value of existing investments in communications infrastructure.

With Avaya one-X Mobile, mobile devices from Apple, RIM, Palm, Motorola, LG, Nokia, Samsung, Sanyo, Sony Ericsson and others become endpoints on the corporate network.

From the iPhone, users will have iPhone optimized access to the Avaya one-X Mobile interface, providing the same ability to make the iPhone their personal remote control for enterprise communications.

RIM Lawsuit is Silly

Most litigation in the U.S. business markets is crap. So put Research in Motion into the camp of crappers. RIM is suing to prevent LG from using the words "Black Label, Strawberry and Black Cherry" for its wireless phones, arguing that the "fruit" names are too similar to its own, and infringe on its trademarks.

I don't know. I just can't imagine anybody confusing a BlackBerry with any other device, no matter what the name.

LG isn't the only company to have faced a challenge from RIM over the BlackBerry name. Last December, RIM filed a suit in the same court against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. alleging that company's BlackJack wireless device was creating confusion between the two products. RIM and Samsung settled the suit.

The current dispute with LG appears to go back to March, 2006, when LG filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to use the Black Label brand.

Over the next 10 months, LG filed additional applications for the Chocolate Black Label Series, Black Jewel, Black Jewelry, Blackruby, Blackpearl, and Pearlring names, which were disputed by RIM, the complaint alleges.

Then in May, 2007, U.S. wireless carrier Verizon Wireless allegedly asked RIM for permission to use the names Black Cherry and Blueberry for the line of Chocolate wireless devices it carried from LG. RIM said no.

It's crap, really.