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  • Smartphone and Tablet Sales Ignite Advanced LCD Market in 2010

    Rapidly rising sales of smartphones and tablet PCs in 2010 will cause the global market for small- and medium-sized TFT LCD panels to expand at its fastest pace in three years, according to iSuppli.

    In its latest report, the market research firm finds that global shipments of small/medium TFT LCD panels, which are advanced types of displays used in sophisticated mobile devices like smartphones and tablet PCs, are set to rise by 28.1 percent in 2010 to reach 2.3 billion units, up 28.1 percent from 1.8 billion in 2009. This will represent the highest level of growth for the market since 2007, when shipments rose by 49.8 percent.

    “Sales of smartphones and tablets are booming in 2010 courtesy of the iPhone, the iPad and a range of competing products. Because such devices focus on delivering a high-quality user experience, many are employing TFT-LCD displays that offer bright, sharp images—a move that represents a boon for the suppliers of these displays,” said Vinita Jakhanwal, director of small and medium-sized displays at iSuppli.

    Global smartphone shipments are set to rise by 35.5 percent in 2010, according to iSuppli. Meanwhile, tablet PC shipments will grow by a stunning 787.3 percent, driven almost entirely by Apple’s iPad.

    Inspired by the iPhone 4, smartphone makers are adopting TFT LCDs using In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology. IPS supports a wider viewing angle and better picture quality in terms of presentation of color than a conventional LCD. It also consumes less electricity.

    Jakhanval said that all TFT-LCD suppliers now are making alliances or developing their own technology so that they can offer IPS displays to their smart phone and tablet customers.

    Meanwhile, a competing advanced display technology known as the Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) also is experiencing rapid growth in the small/medium display market, iSuppli’s electronic display research indicates. AMOLEDs are expanding because of the rise of the Android smart phone market.

    Growth in TFT LCD shipments will slow in 2011 and beyond as the expansion of the smart phone and tablet markets cools to more normal levels.

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  • Gartner: Android to Become No. 2 Worldwide Mobile OS in 2010

    The worldwide mobile operating system market will be dominated by Symbian and Android, as the two OSs will account for 59.8 percent of mobile OS sales by 2014, according to Gartner.

    The research firm predicts that Symbian will remain at the top of Gartner’s worldwide OS ranking due to Nokia‘s volume and the push into more mass market price points. However, by the end of the forecast period, the No. 1 spot will be contested with Android, which will be at a very similar share level.

    According to Gartner, communication service providers’ marketing and vendor support for Android-based smartphones will drive the platform to become the second-largest platform, following Symbian, by year-end 2010. This is almost two years earlier than Gartner predicted a year ago.

    "The worldwide mobile OS market is dominated by four players: Symbian, Android, Research In Motion and iOS," said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.

    "Launches of updated operating systems — such as Apple iOS 4, BlackBerry OS 6, Symbian 3 and Symbian 4, and Windows Phone 7 — will help maintain strong growth in smartphones in 2H10 and 2011 and spur innovation. However, we believe that market share in the OS space will consolidate around a few key OS providers that have the most support from CSPs and developers and strong brand awareness with consumer and enterprise customers," she said.

    Gartner expects manufacturers such as Samsung to launch many new budget Android devices in 2H10 that will drive Android into mass market segments. Other players, such as Sony Ericsson, LG and Motorola, will follow a similar strategy. This trend should help Android become the top OS in North America by the end of 2010.

    "CSPs and mobile device manufacturers alike will need to revisit their platform strategies and balance the need to pursue platforms with the highest current demand against the need to maintain differentiation with unique devices," Cozza said. "CSPs will likely reduce the number of platforms they offer, to reduce their support costs and clarify their propositions to market."

    Gartner predicts that by 2014, open-source platforms will continue to dominate more than 60 percent of the market for smartphones. Single-source platforms, such as Apple’s iOS and Research In Motion’s OS, will increase in unit terms, but their growth rate will be below market average and not enough to sustain share increase. Windows Phone will be relegated to sixth place behind MeeGo in Gartner’s worldwide OS ranking by 2014.

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  • Apple to Rise to No. 2 in Semiconductor Spending by 2011

    The phenomenal success of the iPad and iPhone is expected to make Apple the world’s second-largest semiconductor buyer in 2011, potentially positioning the company to become the world’s top chip purchaser in 2012, according to iSuppli.

    The research group predicts that with projected semiconductor spending in 2011 of $16.2 billion, Apple will leap over Samsung, which will drop to the third spot after finishing with $13.9 billion. Apple’s one-step rise in the rankings will move the company to a close second place behind Hewlett-Packard, which will retain its No. 1 ranking next year thanks to $17.1 billion in spending.

    "Leadership in semiconductor spending represents a position of prestige, and an advancement in the rankings means that a company has been successful in introducing new products and that it is allocating more dollars in research and development—two factors that, as it turns out, feed innovation as well," said Min-Sun Moon, Senior Analyst at iSuppli. 

    According to him, in Apple’s case, the move to second place reflects the company’s triumph in the iPhone 4 and iPad, two flagship products that have captured the public’s imagination—and have garnered tremendous sales—on a scale unequaled by rival devices.

    Apple’s expected rise to No. 2—eclipsing Samsung and putting it within a hair’s breadth of Hewlett-Packard— indicates that the company’s investment in its new smart phone and tablet has paid off—and will do so for some time to come, he believes.

    Apple’s anticipated growth in 2011 continues the extraordinary arc of expansion enjoyed by the company in recent times. In 2009, Apple recorded a surprising 13 percent increase in semiconductor spending—a year when most manufacturers posted negative growth. This year, spending by Apple will rise by a staggering 54.0 percent to reach $12.4 billion—the highest growth rate predicted for any company. Next year, spending levels will be augmented by another 30.4 percent for the company to catapult to its vaunted second-place finish.

    According to the analysts, barring any unforeseen mergers and acquisitions by current champion Hewlett-Packard, Apple could well snag the top spot as soon as 2012, ousting a company that has held the lead since early this millennium.

    iSuppli data show that for 2010, a number of OEM companies are set to join Apple and post rapid growth in semiconductor spending levels.

    The next five companies following Apple, in descending order, are Lenovo at 47.1 percent; SanDisk at 44.3 percent; Research in Motion at 42.9 percent; Cisco at 37.3 percent; and Acer at 29.4 percent.

    "Overall, semiconductor consumption will continue to increase in the Asia-Pacific region, given the rise of manufacturing levels in the region and because of outsourcing activity flowing out from other areas. Major markets contributing to this trend include compute platforms, wireless communications and wired communications," concluded Min-Sun.

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  • Four out of Five Cell Phones to Integrate GPS by End of 2011

    With cell phones increasingly becoming the nexus of the burgeoning markets for navigation and Location Based Services (LBS), the use of GPS technology in such platforms is set to explode during the coming years, according to iSuppli.

    In the fourth quarter of 2011, 79.9 percent of cell phones shipped—amounting to 318.3 million units—will incorporate GPS functionality, up from 56.1 percent in the first quarter of 2009—or 187.8 million units—iSuppli predicts.

    The research group says the adoption of GPS in mobile handsets is being driven by smart phones.

    “The smart phone is the key product driving the technology industry today—and social networking services and applications spurred by GPS-related features are critical elements in the smart phone market today,” said Dr. Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst for iSuppli.

    “This is illustrated by Google’s decision to make turn-by-turn navigation, LBS and mobile ads the central features in its bid to take on Apple in the smart phone market, and make up the central pillars of its strategy to increasingly monetize mobile search.”

    Rebello said that smartphones are taking over from Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs) as the major platform for navigation. By 2014, usage of navigation-enabled smart phones will exceed that of PNDs.

    Furthermore – he continued – the smart phone is likely to generate many innovative LBS apps in the next five years. Apple’s iPhone already has more than 6,000 LBS apps available.

    Meanwhile, both Apple and Google are focusing on mobile advertising as a key source of revenue used in association with LBS.

    Apple’s new iAd platform, part of the company’s updated iPhone OS 4 operating system, enables the embedding of advertisements into applications, allowing iPhone users to interact with the ad without leaving the app. Similarly, Google in May acquired leading mobile ad provider AdMob.

    “Nonetheless, Apple recently upped the ante in the smart phone GPS segment with the addition of a gyroscope to its latest iPhone model. Used in combination with GPS, an accelerometer, a compass and the gyroscope can be used for in indoor navigation with floor accuracy,” as the analysts claim.

    iSuppli also sees an increased penetration of embedded GPS in a range of consumer and compute electronic devices by 2014. For example, iSuppli estimates that 18 percent of laptops and 42 percent of portable handheld video game players will have embedded GPS in 2014.

    According to the research group, altogether, the boom in mobile handset navigation will benefit suppliers of GPS semiconductors such as Texas Instruments, Broadcom Corp., Infineon Technologies and CSR.

    “GPS is not the only embedded connectivity technology that will be increasingly embedded in consumer and compute electronics devices. With the ratification of the Bluetooth 4.0 standard supporting the Bluetooth Low Energy profile, iSuppli expects increased penetration of Bluetooth in wireless mice, keypads and other interface devices for the mobile and desktop market—an area that has been dominated by proprietary technologies,” said Rebello.

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  • Apple Reports All-Time Record Revenue

    Apple has announced financial results for its fiscal 2010 third quarter ended June 26, 2010. The company posted record revenue of $15.7 billion and net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion ($3.51 per diluted share).

    These results compare to revenue of $9.73 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.83 billion ($2.01 per diluted share) in the year-ago quarter.

    Gross margin was 39.1 percent compared to 40.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 52 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

    Apple sold 3.47 million Macs during the quarter, representing a new quarterly record and a 33 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.

    The company sold 8.4 million iPhones in the quarter — 61 percent unit growth, 9.41 million iPods — 8 percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter.

    Apple also began selling iPads during the quarter, with total sales of 3.27 million.

    “It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.”

    “We’re really pleased to have generated over $4 billion of cash during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue of about $18 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $3.44”

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  • Apple Releases Find My iPhone App

    If you lose your iPhone or iPad while on the go, simply install the Find My iPhone app on any other iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to find it. Apple has just announced that the Find My iPhone app is now available as a free download from the App Store.

    In case you lost your device, sign in with your member name and password to locate your missing device on a map and have it display a message or play a sound.

    There is even an option to remotely lock the missing device to protect your privacy, or to wipe it to permanently delete all of your data if you think that it won’t be returned. The app will automatically sign you out after 15 minutes of inactivity or you can manually sign out at any time.

    In addition to the new app, the Find My iPhone web application on me.com now displays the device location on a full-screen map.

    Unfortunately, Find My iPhone and Remote Wipe are not available in all countries.

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  • iSuppli: HP’s Palm Acquisition Opens up a Tablet of Possibilities

    Hewlett-Packard planned acquisition of Palm immediately puts the PC-centric company knee-deep in the smart phone race, but perhaps more importantly positions the company to compete in the burgeoning tablet market, says iSuppli.

    According to the research firm, the acquisition gives HP the means to use Palm’s WebOS platform to release a tablet device that will compete against Apple’s iPad as well as whatever arises from the relationship between Nokia and Intel.

    iSuppli forecasts worldwide tablet shipments will expand to 11.0 million units in 2010, up from just 2.0 million units in 2009 and 1.8 million units in 2008. Most of the shipments in 2010 will be made up by sales of the iPad, and sales will continue to expand in the coming years as a range of competitors enters the tablet market.

    iSuppli believes that a key component in HP’s strategy will be to utilize its common WebOS operating system as a basis for developing a tablet that can use the same applications and services being employed by the company’s existing smart phone product line.

    According to the analysts, the challenge for HP is to develop an ecosystem around a platform that will be able to compete with the centralized apps store Apple has created. That also means garnering support from leading developers in order to get the right apps and features available for multi-platform mobilized devices.

    What this means is that there are now three major competitors positioning for a fully interoperable, multi-device platform: Nokia/Intel, Apple and now HP with its Palm purchase.

    “Even so, this doesn’t even address the number of Taiwanese and other vendors that are developing their own tablet PCs in what will surely be a highly competitive market in years to come,” as iSuppli claims.

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  • iPhone 4 Sounds Starting Gun for Smartphone Gyroscope Market

    Monday’s introduction of the iPhone 4 is set to trigger explosive growth in the market for gyroscopes used in cell phones, as a flood of competitors vie to emulate the feature, says iSuppli.

    According to the research group, global unit shipments of gyroscopes in mobile handsets are expected to rise to 285 million in 2014, up from 26 million in 2010 and from zero in 2009.

    The integration of the gyroscope in the iPhone 4, which is set to begin shipping on June 24, confirms iSuppli’s forecast that these parts would make their first appearance in smart phones this summer.

    “Because of Apple’s role as a technology trendsetter, a multitude of mobile handset OEMs are expected to offer smart phones that integrate gyroscopes,” said Jérémie Bouchaud, director and principal analyst, Microelectromechanical Systems, for iSuppli. “This will cause shipments to rise by 157 percent in 2011 and by 60 percent in 2012 and 2013.”

    Mobile handset makers until recently have shown little interest in gyroscopes, Bouchaud noted. However, the success of the Nintendo Wii Motion Plus video game console demonstrated the consumer appeal of gyroscopes for game playing. Meanwhile, InvenSense and STMicroelectronics have offered a cascade of new gyroscopes with 2 and 3 axes, making the technology more accessible.

    “STMicroelectronics is the sole supplier of accelerometers for previous models of the iPhone, as well as for the iPad and the iPod line,” Bouchaud said.

    “Because of this, we believe that STMicroelectronics is also the supplier of the gyroscope in the iPhone 4. However, we will have to wait for confirmation from iSuppli’s Teardown Analysis Service when it dissects the iPhone 4 in late June.”

    According to the analysts, the main applications for gyroscopes in cell phones in 2010 and 2011 will comprise a user interface utilizing a gyroscope in combination with an accelerometer, followed by image stabilization and dead-reckoning for in-vehicle navigation.

    From 2012, gyroscopes will start to be used for indoor navigation in combination with an accelerometer, compass and pressure sensor for floor accuracy. By 2014, the market for gyroscopes in cell phones is expected to amount to $220 million.

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  • iPhone 4 is Here

    The iPhone 4 has been finally announced at the WWDC 2010. Steve Jobs himself revealed the new smartphone by Apple: the next iPhone is a 9.3mm thick (a quarter thinner than the iPhone 3GS; “the thinnest smartphone on the planet”, as Jobs said), has glass on front and back (“for better optical quality and scratch resistance”), and stainless steel around. It uses the stainless steel band as part of the antenna system.

    “It’s the most precise thing we’ve ever made,” Apple CEO said.

    iPhone 4 is powered by the A4 chip (designed ”in house”) and comes with two built-in cameras (one on the front and one on the back with an LED flash), two mics (one for a noise cancellation), micro-SIM (“we needed the space!"), 802.11n WiFi, GPS, compass, accelerometer, Quadband HSDPA/HSUPA, 7.2Mbps and up to 32GB of storage.

    The display is a huge innovation: based on new IPS technology ("quite a bit better than OLED"), the 3.5 inch, 960 x 640 Retina Display displays 326 pixels per inch (four times as many pixels as in any standard display) giving us really sharp text and pictures. The contrast ratio is 800:1 (4x better than the 3GS).

    Since the battery is now a bit bigger, its life has been improved. Apple says there is 7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music and 300 hours of standby.

    Another new piece of hardware is a gyroscope with pitch, roll, and yaw. It provides 6-axis motion sensing and features new CoreMotion APIs for extremely precise positioning. "We’re adding a 3 axis gyro, and we tied the gyro and accelerometer, compass, and gyro together for six axis. It’s perfect for gaming," Jobs said.

    Back camera has gone from 3 to 5 MP. Apple is using something that’s new to smarpthones — a back side illuminated sensor (giving more light to the camera). There’s a 5X digital zoom, tap to focus, and LED flash built in.

    Camera also does HD 720p (at 30 frames per second) video recording. It supports tap to focus and allows us to edit videos right on the phone. It also has 1-click sharing and the LED flash will stay on for the HD video recording. There is also iMovie coming to the iPhone for $4.99 (“if we approve it,” Jobs joked).

    iPhone 4 will also feature "FaceTime" video calling. It works between iPhone 4 devices, doesn’t require any setting-up and works anywhere there is WiFi. “It’s WIFI only in 2010. We need to work a little bit with our providers,” Jobs said. He added that Apple is going to make FaceTime and open industry standard.

    Apple has renamed the iPhone OS. Now it’s just iOS 4." Becuase it’s on iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone,” Apple CEO said. He also said that 100 millionth iOS device will be sold this month. "There is definitely a market for your applications," Jobs added.

    As announced earlier this year, new iOS 4 features include Multitasking for third party apps; Folders to better organize and access apps; improved Mail with a unified inbox, fast inbox switching and threaded messages; enhanced Enterprise support with better data protection, mobile device management and wireless app distribution.

    Apple has also added Bing to the iPhone for search (“Microsoft has done a great job on this,” Jobs said). Google will still be the default, but now we’ll have choice of Google, Yahoo, or Bing.

    Developers will get a Golden Master Candidate release of iOS4 today.

    Apple is also bringing iBooks to the iPhone with the iPhone 4. It has the same bookshelf as on the iPad, the same ability to read a PDF and comes with the same controls, highlighting, notes, and bookmarking. We can download the same book to all our devices at no extra charge (“Buy it on your iPad, download to your iPhone”)! In addition, iBooks will automatically and wirelessly sync our current place, bookmarks, and notes across all our devices.

    On July 1st Apple will also start providing iAds to all iOS 4 devices. “Why are we doing this? To help our developers earn money to continue to create free and low-cost apps for users,” Jobs said. According to him, they are trying to combine “the emotion of video with the interactivity of the Web."

    Apple sells and hosts the ads, so developers just have to tell them where to put the ads. And devs get paid 60 percent of the revenue. The company started selling ads eight weeks ago to: Nissan, Citi, Unilever, AT&T, Chanel, GE, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Geico, Campbells, Sears, JCPenney, Target, Best Buy, DirecTV, TBS Network and Disney. "We’ve got advertisers committing to $60m," Jobs said.

    Price and availability
    iPhone 4 comes in two colors: black and white. 16GB model is for $199, and 32GB model for $299. Old 3GS is now $99

    Jobs said that AT&T is going to make an “incredibly generous upgrade offer: if your contract expires at any time in 2010, you can upgrade to the iPhone 4. You can get it up to six months early."

    The new iPhone will be on sale June 24th. Pre orders begin June 15th. Apple will ship iPhone 4 in US and four other countries on the first day (U.K., Germany, France, Japan). In July they’re shipping in 18 countries more. By September it will ship in 88 countries. "Our fastest roll out ever," Jobs said.

    iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G and iPod touch users can upgrade to iOS 4 for free starting June 21.

    Reed Hastings from Netflix, Mark Pincus from Zygna and Karthik Bala from Activision were also on stage announcing that Netflix, Farmville and new Guitar Hero will be coming to the iPhone.

  • Gartner: Worldwide Smarpthone Sales Grew 49% in Q1 2010

    Worldwide smarpthone sales to end users reached 54.3 million units in the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 48.7% from the first quarter of 2009, according to Gartner. Mobile phone sales totalled 314.7 million units, a 17% increase from the same period in 2009.

    Gartner report "Competitive Landscape: Mobile Devices, Worldwide, 1Q10" shows that among the most successful vendors were those that controlled an integrated set of operating system, hardware and services.

    "In the first quarter of 2010, smartphone sales to end users saw their strongest year-on-year increase since 2006," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.

    Q1 2010 saw RIM, “a pure smartphone player”, make its debut in the top five mobile devices manufacturers, and saw Apple increase its market share by 1.2 percentage points. Android’s momentum continued into the first quarter of 2010, particularly in North America, where sales of Android-based phones increased 707% year-on-year.

    According to the report, growth in the mobile devices market was driven by double-digit growth of smartphone sales in mature markets, helped by wider product availability as well as mass market price tags.

    “Increasing sales of white-box products in some emerging regions, in particular India, also drove sales of mobile phones upward. We expect sales of white-box products to remain very healthy for the remainder of 2010, especially outside of China,” said Milanesi.

    The first quarter also saw some movement outside the top five mobile handset vendor rankings: Hong Kong-based manufacturer G-Five made its debut into the top 10, grabbing 1.4% of market share

    The rise of white-box manufacturers from Asia has also helped the "others" section, as a proportion of overall sales, increase its market share to 19.20%, up 2.7 percentage points.

    “This is having a profound effect on the top five mobile handset manufacturers’ combined share that dropped from 73.3 in the first quarter of 2009 to 70.7% in the first quarter of 2010,” said Milanesi.

    In Q1 2010, Nokia‘s mobile phone sales to end users reached 110.1 million units, a 1.2% decline in market share year-on-year. Although Nokia’s midtier products sold well, Nokia lacks a high-volume driver in the high-end, according to the analysts.

    “MeeGo based devices and other high-end products will not rejuvenate Nokia’s premium portfolio until the end of the third quarter of 2010 at the earliest, and Nokia will continue to feel pressure on its average selling price (ASP) from vendors such as HTC, RIM and Samsung,” said Milanesi.

    The reorganisation announced last week demonstrated that Nokia is trying to streamline the reporting process to deliver results quickly, which Gartner believes shows its recognition of the pressure it faces from investors.

    Samsung sold 64.9 million devices in Q1 2010, an increase of 26.3% year-on-year. Samsung was one of the five vendors in the top10 vendors ranking to grow its market share, which increased by 1.5 percentage points year-on-year.

    RIM’s mobile phone sales reached 10.6 million units, a 45.9% increase year-on-year. RIM is making its debut into the top five worldwide mobile handset manufacturers ranking. RIM’s focus this quarter was centred on its ecosystem strategy, its tightly integrated control of store, OS and device played to RIM’s strengths, according to the report.

    The reports also shows that the first quarter of 2010 was Apple’s strongest quarter yet, which placed the company in the No. 7 position with a 112.2% increase in mobile devices sales.

    “Growth came partly from new communication service providers in established markets, such as the UK, and stronger sales in new markets such as China and South Korea,” said Milanesi.

    She claims that the second quarter of 2010 will be a very important one for Apple. “We expect that Apple will present its new iPhone in June during its Worldwide Developer Conference, which will be the first to feature the latest release of the iPhone OS that includes welcome improvements for developers and users, such as multitasking,” she said.

    OS market
    In the smartphone OS market, Android and Apple were the winners in Q1 2010. Android moved to the No. 4 position displacing Microsoft Windows Mobile for the first time. Both Android and Apple were the only two OSs vendors among the top five to increase market share year-on-year.

    Symbian remained in the No. 1 position but continued to lose as Nokia remains weak in the high-end portfolio.

    Smartphones accounted for 17.3% of all mobile handset sales in the first quarter of 2010, up from 13.6% in the same period in 2009.

    “As seen with the iPad and web books based on Google’s Android platform, mobile OS ecosystems are developing and will move beyond smartphones to continue to deliver consumer value and a rich user experience,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.

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