The smartphone is a relatively new arrival on the mobile technology scene, yet there are quite a few companies testing the waters. Historically relegated to the enterprise market, today’s smartphones are beginning to cross over into the consumer space. Companies are advertising smartphones in the mainstream, and this is fanning the flames of consumer awareness. As more consumers make the shift away from simple feature phones, handset markets and carriers have continued to introduce new options to meet surging demand. So, whether you’re a consumer, a company desiring to capitalize on the hot market or an enterprise buyer looking to bring smartphones to your staff, it is important to understand the platforms currently driving the products of today.
Birth of the Smartphone Market
In the early days of the smartphone, it was easy to get a grasp on the options available. There were few choices, and those choices were determined by the enterprise market. The smartphone was basically a phone that could process email, and that was it. There were only two smartphone platforms driving those options, Windows Mobile from Microsoft and the BlackBerry OS from Research in Motion (RIM).
Microsoft’s long-running Windows Mobile was built around the ability to seamlessly work with Exchange Server. This, coupled with enterprise device management resources, gave Windows Mobile a lock on the early smartphone market. Then RIM came along with the BlackBerry, and the tide began to shift. The BlackBerry hit the enterprise just when email was beginning to gain ground as a business communications tool. RIM was quick to recognize this, and the BlackBerry platform was built to drive the use of email — and to make using email easy for both the BlackBerry user and the corporate support staff. The BlackBerry soon became the enterprise smartphone of choice, and Windows Mobile’s downward slide began.
For the Hardware+OS group, the big losers are Palm and Danger, I would expect both to be gone by mid-2010. Small losers in the group will be Nokia, Apple and RIM, all of which will lose some share to Android.
On the OS only side, WinMobile will be a much smaller player, and the various flavors of Linux on mobile devices will just fade away. Android has the mind share and the price ($0 to handset makers) to take most of the OS Only market for the next several years.
Just one guys opinion.
Nice article. Some questions/comments.
I would agree that MS has been the big loser in the mobile OS space. Their marketshare numbers are low and now seem to be out of the discussion in many ways. Outside of getting handsets built by offering up large marketing co-ops, there does not seem to be much traction that I can see in the marketplace.
In the birth of the smartphone market you mention that Nokia’s marketshare has continued to dip due to the limited success of the active email capability in the S60 devices. I would argue that Nokia was the first company to actually begin creating media centric smartphones and extending the smartphone market. They continued to gain marketshare continued to grow during those early years (2004 and after). Outside the US marketplace Nokia devices were everywhere and advanced in many ways.
I believe the iPhone was the device (experience really) that put the big dent into Nokia’s “smarthphone” market dominance. Not only did Apple build a remarkable device, but they also changed the then current operator business model by bringing a “we own the whole chain – take it or leave” model to market. They also separated software design and experience from hardware design and foresaw the importance of applications and services to drive consumer demand. It was exactly what the market needed as it seeked out a way to fill up the once empty 3G pipes. In some ways it looks like it actually worked too well in some cases!
Further on in the article you mention that Nokia is currently working to consolidate all under one OS – Linux based Symbian. Symbian is not a Linux based OS, Maemo is. Also Nokia stated at Nokia World 09 that they are continuing along with their mutli-OS lines and that Symbian devices will continue to be the largest volume shipments. So I am not sure if they are really consolidating to 1 OS in the near future.
With a new, updated open source Symbian platform coming to market and Apple and Android fighting for market dominance too, it should be a very exciting future for all involved.
I think at the base level that the two companies, Nokia and MS, will continue to do their own thing. The alliance announced smacked of more PR than anything. I attended the press event where the announcement was made and both companies kept stressing that they were approaching this as independents, not partners.
Is the Nokia and Microsoft partnership (for Office) of any significance in this? As far fetched as it may seem – I see Nokia with only two options (and they may choose to pursue both) – partner with Microsoft for a new version of Windows Mobile (or Windows Phone) that Microsoft is no doubt developing and/or Maemo (from the tablet).
Symbian is long overdue for an overhaul – and the above seem to be the only options that Nokia has, as of now.
Android will definitely become the number two player in this segment – but as long as there are not too many versions of Android out there (which may very well happen).
James,
I’d argue that, yes, there are ‘smart phones’ and, yes, there is a category of one – the iPhone.
Is any smartphone going to catch up and match Apple’s innovative drive?
Apple’s already reinvented the mp3 player, music, app, and upgrade distribution, the mobile ‘smart phone’, mobile web browsing, GPS services, local search, the mobile app platform.
They will soon reinvent the tablet; gaming, print and multimedia distribution; mobile reliability and security, and enterprise targeted mobiles.
I fail to see how Apple will not be nearly dominant by 2012.