| On 09.04.09, In Uncategorized, by sweta |
Almost everyone seems to be talking about smartphones lately. Seriously, when was the last time you picked up a newspaper and didnt find anything about a smartphone. From the manufacturers to the operating systems, everything about them creates a buzz.
Reason? They are the highest growing sector in the mobile industry. When the mobile industry in the second quarter fell from 304.7 million units to 286.1 million units in the last year, smart phones enjoyed a 27% growth in the sales from 2008 to 2009. The total number of smartphone units sold in Q2 2009 stood at 40.9 millions.
For a long time the operating system in the mobile arena was solely dominated by Symbian. Gone are those days and users today are spoilt for choices. Windows has launched its latest version of Windows Mobile called Windows Mobile 6.5, Google has launched its operating system for mobiles called android. Apple has its own operating system for iphone.
So, what does this translate into? Apart from lot of choices, it also means a big market and lots of competition. Smartphones comprise of 14% of the total mobiles sold. Nokia continues to dominate the Smartphone market as well with a huge market share of 45% followed by RIM and Apple at 18.7% and 13.3% respectively. Apple has this market share with just 1 product, the legendary iphone.
Lets have a look at the distribution of the market share of the various companies:
Data Source: Gartner Technology Business Research Insight
Apple had the most phenomenal growth in the last year and Nokia had to succumb to some fierce competition from its peers. A look at how their market share has changed since last year.
Data Source: Gartner Technology Business Research Insight
There is a lot of action happening in the world of smartphones and its happening fast. There are a few omportant news and things to watch out for this year:
Linux based smartphone from Nokia
Dell enters the Smartphone market through China
Windows smartphone from LG to hit the market
Samsung’s first Andrid smartphone on sale with O2
Android smartphone from Sprint set for Oct 11
Motorola’s first Android powered smart phone expected to be released on Sep 10
This is certainly not the entire list but something I could think of. If I have missed out on something that needs to be mentioned, please let me know. I’d be happy to add it to the list.
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[...] launch. Apple currently owns about 10.8 percent share of the smartphone market and is the fastest growing phone in the category. Google’s Android is about to pose a new threat to iPhone. According to Ken Dulaney of [...]