Android the Only Smartphone OS Gaining Market Share?

In the U.S. market, at least, Android devices seem to be the only class of devices, sorted by operating system, that has gained market share over the last six months, Nielsen reports.

Easy to Use Web Browser Impact

By now it is abundantly clear that smartphones with easy-to-use browsers encourage people to use the web when mobile.

To the extent that Symbian and Research in Motion devices have been harder to use, their web usage shows the impact of the barrier, while Apple and Android devices indicate what happens when the barrier is removed.

Some will say this poses a potential problem for mobile service providers. But there is one problem worse than dramatically increased data demand: insufficient demand.

Nokia to Introduce N8, Using New Version of Symbian

The Nokia N8, Nokia's latest smartphone, using the new Symbian 3 operating system, is designed to challenge the iPhone and BlackBerry at the high end of the market, where Nokia arguably has been struggling.

The Nokia N8 will be available in selected markets from the third quarter of 2010 and comes with an estimated price tag of €370 (about $493) before taxes and subsidies.

The Nokia N8 introduces a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. Additionally, the Nokia N8 offers the ability to make HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite.

Doubling as a portable entertainment center, people can enjoy HD-quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound by plugging into their home theatre system. The Nokia N8 enables access to Web TV services that deliver programs, news and entertainment from channels like CNN, E! Entertainment, Paramount and National Geographic. Additional local Web TV content is also available from the Ovi Store.

Social networking also is featured. People can update their status, share location and photos, and view live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app directly on the home screen. Calendar events from social networks can also be transferred to the device calendar.

The Nokia N8 comes with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation, guiding people to places and points of interest in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Nokia has upgraded its Symbian software to make it more user friendly, a criticism of earlier versions of Symbian.

The Symbian 3 operating system supports features touchscreen commands such as multi-touch, flick scrolling and pinch-zoom, as well as faster multi-tasking, Nokia says.

fring Upgraded for Android and Symbian Mobile Devices

Mobile VoIP provider fring has just released two new versions for Symbian and Android mobile device users, adding user-requested features.

The Symbian version, for Nokia users, lets users notify their friends know if they are online, offline, busy, or just stay invisible if they don’t want to be disturbed; all in the click of a button.

DTMF dialing now is supported as well. Now dialing “#” (“pound”) and “*” sign (“star”) is possible to use within a call through the new fring dialer.

Android users will find increased app stability as well as the ability to hide or show offline buddy presence, hide or show the address book, and manage privacy settings for IM signatures and "mood" messages.

The company also fixed some audio issues formerly experienced on Motorola Droid or Milestone devices and added better support for Google’s Nexus One device.

Improved battery consumption also is new.

The new apps can be downloaded at http://www.fring.com/default.asp.

Smartphones are Changing the Wi-Fi Hotspot Business

Smartphones are changing the nature of the hotspot business, it now appears. Originally envisioned as a way to provide "outside the home" and "outside the office" connections for laptop and notebook PC users, hotspots now are becoming important sources of broadband connections for smartphones.

One example: iPass, which used to focus on managing PC authentication processes for traveling enterprise workers, now finds it is focusing more attention on managing authentication processes for enterprise smartphones, says Rick Bilodeau iPass VP.

"Smartphones are the new thing," he says. "Now it is smartphones and Blackberries." The software is available for BlackBerry, Symbian and iPhone at the moment, and iPass is watching the Android, though it hasn't seen enterprise demand for that device yet.

As a firm that manages broadband access for hundreds of Fortune 2000 companies, iPass has to manage connections created on hundreds of global networks, but now scores of smartphone devices as well.

To make that process easier, it created an "Open Device Framework," a standardized interface to iPass client software that allows enterprises to write their own XML scripts for the specific dongles, phones and other devices they want to support.

The company also now preconfigures Mi-Fi routers, loading SSID information directly into the boxes before they are delivered to their users, for example. The iPass log-on software also can be preloaded. "We're first to do this, we think," says Bilodeau.

ODF is available now and the Mi-Fi featuers will be available in December 2009, he says.

Apple, RM Battle Shapes Up

Apple took 28 percent share of the fast growing U.S. converged device (smart phone) market in the fourth quarter of 2007, behind Research in Motion’s 41percent, but a long way ahead of third placed Palm at nine percent, say Canalys researchers.

Apple also finished ahead of all Windows Mobile device vendors combined, whose share was 21 percent in the quarter.

Globally, converged device shipments rose 60 percent to hit 115 million in 2007. U.S. sales doubled.

Nokia remained the global market leader, shipping 60.5 million smart phones, while RIM shipments grew 112 percent to 12.2 million.
Globally, Symbian operating system devices had 67 percent share, followed by Microsoft on 13 percent and RIM with 10 percent.

Apple claims that nearly 70 percent of all mobile Internet traffic is generated by iPhone users. Executives at Google, meanwhile, have confirmed the basis thesis: iPhone users surf the Web way beyond anything seen up to this point.

On the other hand, RIM points out that nearly two thirds of its 12 million BlackBerry subscribers in December 2007 were government or corporate customers.

The observation is that as the smart phone market continues to grow rapidly, the dynamics of the U.S. market--as distinct from the global markets--are shaping up, in part, as Apple going "up market" to enterprises and RIM going "down market" to consumers. That's not to dismiss Microsoft-powered or Nokia devices, but simply to illustrate a dynamic.

We have a market likely to take new shape as devices and users expand beyond the original base of "mobile email" addicts. The iPhone has shown there is a new class of user who uses mobile email but also surfs the Web and uses the mobile Internet in ways we haven't seen before. That's going to get designers moving in different directions as the various segments start to emerge. For some users the current iPhone or BlackBerry interfaces still will work. For others, something else might emerge.

Personally, I like the ability to swap SIMs between devices, which iPhone doesn't want me to do. I like to be able to change my own batteries, which iPhone doesn't want me to do. Small things, of course, but real barriers to me getting rid of my BlackBerry. Other choices will have to be made by music or video afficianados.

iPhone 2nd Best Selling Smart phone in Q4

Smart mobile device shipments hit 118 million in 2007, up 53 percent over 2006, reports Canalys. In the fourth quarter, newcomer Apple shipped the third most devices globally. Nokia remained the global market leader, shipping 60.5 million smart phones.

Research in Motion shipments grew 112 percent year-over-year to 12.2 million, to take second place.

Symbian remains the operating system leader, with 67 percent share, followed by Microsoft with 13 percent, with RIM on 10 percent. Apple garnered seven percent while Linux had five percent share.

High-end devices represented around 10 percent of the global mobile phone market by units in 2007, with annual growth of 60 percent.

Apple’s entry into this market in 2007 with the iPhone sparked a lot of media attention and speculation about how much it could disrupt the status quo and take share away from companies such as Nokia, RIM, Palm and Motorola. “When you consider that it launched part way through the year, with limited operator and country coverage, and essentially just one product, Apple has shown very clearly that it can make a difference and has sent a wakeup call to the market leaders,” said Pete Cunningham, Canalys senior analyst. “What it must demonstrate now is that it can build a sustainable business in the converged device space, expanding its coverage and product portfolio. It will also need to ensure that the exclusive relationships that got it so far so quickly do not prove to be a limit on what it can achieve. Apple’s innovation in its mobile phone user interface has prompted a lot of design activity among competitors. We saw the beginnings of that in 2007, but we will see a lot more in 2008 as other smart phone vendors try to catch up and then get back in front. Experience shows that a vendor with only one smart phone design, no matter how good that design is, will soon struggle. A broad, continually refreshed portfolio is needed to retain and grow share in this dynamic market. This race is a marathon, but you pretty much have to sprint every lap.”

Canalys estimates that Apple took 28% share of the fast growing US converged device market in Q4 2007, behind RIM’s 41%, but a long way ahead of third placed Palm on 9%. This was also enough to put Apple ahead of all Windows Mobile device vendors combined, whose share was 21% in the quarter according to Canalys figures. In EMEA, where the iPhone officially launched part way through the quarter in only three countries, Apple took fifth spot behind Nokia, RIM, HTC and Motorola, but ahead of several established smart phone providers such as Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Palm.

For the full year 2007, as in 2006, the Asia Pacific region was the biggest in volume terms for converged device shipments. Apple has of course not yet launched the iPhone in the region, and many vendors who are successful in other parts of the world, such as RIM and Palm, have also made relatively little impact there so far. Nokia continues to lead in the region, with more than 50% share in converged devices, ahead of Japanese smart phone vendors Sharp and Fujitsu. Motorola, despite enjoying fourth place, has seen its Linux-based smart phone shipments in the region fall 28% from their high in 2006.

Symbian led in the Asia-Pacific (85 percent) and Europe-Middle East-Africa regions (80 percent) while in North America RIM was the clear leader on 42 percent smart phone share, ahead of Apple at 27 percent and Microsoft at 21 percent.

Android, iPhone: Finding the New in the Old

Sometimes the insight that leads to an assault on a new market is to discover the new market hidden in the weeds of an older and established market. Incumbents in the mobile phone market have dismissed the Apple iPhone simply because the volumes of devices shipped by the leading players is so overwhelming.

Though it is less often said, the same sort of dismissal could be aimed at Android, the open-source operating system under development by Google and 30 or so other partners.

And it's hard to argue with that perspective. Unless you dig in the weeds and reimagine a market. If one looks at smart phone (perhaps more aptly described as mobile PC or mobile Web device)penetration, it is still quite low.

Looking just at smart phones, which have low penetration, the market volume to be shared by all players is still quite small, so the market share doesn't have nearly the same meaning it would in a large volume market.

"Smart phones" or "mobile Web" devices or "conference in a pocket phones" or "email in a pocket" phones remain a developing market, not a saturated market. So new players still have a shot of ultimately achieving significant influence and share, no matter how small their efforts might appear if the market is defined as "mobile phones."

Hughes de la Vergne, Gartner analyst, estimates that even powerful Symbian has just two to three percent share of the U.S. smart phone operating system market, for example.

But that's just the U.S. market. The numbers certainly look daunting just about everywhere else.

Sony Ericsson Embraces Windows Mobile

Sony Ericsson will drop its own Symbian-powered operating system in preference for Windows Mobile 6 for a new high-end Web-capable smart phone. The move does not mean Sony Ericsson is abandoning Symbian for other devices, but does suggest that as mobile Web devices become more prevalent and important, a "PC-like" experience might be growing in importance. The move also suggests growing acceptance of Windows Mobile as an mobile operating system.

The Xperia X1, which it says is the first new brand to come from within Sony Ericsson, is the first device to use Windows Mobile 6.

The X1 handset is designed around media player applications and Web browsing and features a full QWERTY keyboard.

Symbian Disses Google

Google faces challenges in the mobile device business to be sure. Microsoft and Symbian have made abundantly clear their views on how tough it is to break into the market and how far Google is behind. But perhaps the dismissals are a sign of how great the concern is?

Google's attempt to create a widely-used Linux-based mobile phone operating system is "a bit like the common cold," says John Forsyth, Symbian VP, in an interview with the BBC. "It keeps coming round and then we go back to business."

"About every three months this year there has been a mobile Linux initiative of some sort launched," he says.

Symbian's recent financial results show it sold 20.4 million smartphone software licenses in the last quarter of 2007 and since the company was launched nine years ago more than 165 million phones have been shipped using its platform."Search and a mobile phone platform are completely different things," Forsyth argues.
"It's costly, arduous and at times a deeply unsexy job of supporting customers day by day in launching phones."

Forsyth also questioned whether developers would flock to the system. "You have to have a lot of zeroes in your sales figures before a developer gets out of bed," he argues. A phone that can't be sold until next year "is not one that is going to ignite developers," he says.

Nokia, a major driver of Symbian device sales, is more circumspect. "We are always open to discussion and debate on that. We were not ready to make any commitment to it or discuss it at the time," says Simon Ainslie, Nokia UK managing director. "We are having ongoing discussions with Google."

Google Launches Mobile Assault

Count Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile amongst its carrier partners. Count Samsung and Motorola among its handset partners. Don't look for Symbian or Nokia support, as Google will launch a rival operating system based on Linux, integrating Gmail, mapping and optimized search.

The phones are expected to come on the market around the middle of 2008 and will feature Google software as the anchor around which third party apps also will be added.

About 25 alliance partners already are working with Google.

at&t seems to have some barriers to working with Google as a result of its Apple deal, while Verizon might still be worried about facing Google as a rival network operator. Still, Google's new push will help create a new category of mobile devices not optimized around voice, email or music, but around Web applications.

Rivals Pooh Pooh iPhone

As was to be expected at a wireless show where enterprise applications are a big part of the content, rival handset manufacturers dismissed the iPhone's prospects as an enterprise device. Most of the barriers seemed to center on the lack of openness, compared to what is available on other platforms such as the Windows Mobile and Symbian platforms. Enterprise IT manager resistance was another frequently cited hurdle. Some pointed to the still-small volumes Apple can point to, in light of a market with an installed base of two billion. One executive quipped that his firm sold more phones "during lunch" than Apple has sold to date.

Still, Apple got begrudging respect for its design skills, ability to capture the essence of "cool" and for the way iPhone has singlehandedly changed handset design. The LG Prada, for example, features one such new look. Others pointed to the way Apple has pushed the U.S. market further in the direction of unlocked phones and consumer choice. Some pointed to Apple's unheard of ability to dictate terms to carriers used to getting their own way with handset providers.

Some said iPhone was a tipping point, milestone or landmark. It is the first phone that really puts Web experience right up there with voice performance. Up to this point high end phones have been about productivity. iPhone arguably is the first to put "fun" at the center of a high end device.

"For the first time, you have a Silicon Valley company disrupting the whole market," says Cyriac Roeding, CBS Mobile EVP.

Still, there are lots of other important segments, even though there seems universal agreement that, at some point, just about every phone sold in North America and Europe will be a smart phone. Not everyone is going to want a touch interface for text entry, as useful as it is for Web browsing. The HTC Touch seems to require fingers much smaller than mine, for example. The lack of tactile feedback seems to require some getting used to as well, though Nokia seems to have a solution for that.

Symbian Gets Touch

The Nokia-backed Symbian mobile phone operating system is adding a "touch" user interface. The S60 operating system will support a variety of input methods, including touch screens with a traditional keypad, touch screens with a "qwerty" keyboard or touch screen alone, supporting both finger or stylus optimized input.

The new interface supports tactile feedback when the user taps on the screen. The new
OS also expands the use of sensor technology to detect device motion and orientation, a feature expected to be used in gaming applications, for example.

The new OS also is said to be the first mobile software platform to deliver the complete Web video experience, including Flash Video. This allows people to view on the go Flash-enabled Web sites and Flash Video, such as YouTube, as they would do on their desktops.