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  • comScore: Motorola and RIM Lead U.S. Smartphone Market

    comScore, a firm that measures the digital world, released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month period between October 2009 and January 2010.

    The report found Motorola to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 22.9 percent market share, while RIM led among smartphone platforms with 43.0 percent market share.

    OEM Market Share

    In the 3 month average ending in January, 234 million Americans were mobile subscribers ages 13 and older, with device manufacturer Motorola ranking as the top OEM with 22.9 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers.

    LG ranked second with 21.7 percent share, followed by Samsung (21.1 percent share), Nokia (9.1 percent share) and RIM (7.8 percent share).

    Smartphone Platform Market Share

    According to the report, 42.7 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones in an average month during the November to January period, up 18 percent from the August through October period.

    RIM was the leading mobile smartphone platform in the U.S. with 43.0 percent share of U.S. smartphone subscribers, rising 1.7 percentage points versus three months earlier.

    Apple ranked second with 25.1 percent share (up 0.3 percentage points), followed by Microsoft at 15.7 percent, Google at 7.1 percent (up 4.3 percentage points), and Palm at 5.7 percent. Google’s Android platform continues to see rapid gains in market share.

    Mobile Content Usage

    In an average month during the measured period, 63.5 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 1.5 percentage points versus three months prior.

    Browsers were used by 28.6 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 1.8 percentage points), while subscribers who played games made up 21.7 percent (up 0.4 percentage points).

    Access of social networking sites or blogs experienced strong gains in the past three months, growing 3.3 percentage points to 17.1 percent of mobile subscribers, as the report shows.

  • Carrier VoIP Continues to Transform Mobile/Fixed Networks

    Synergy Research Group released their newest report „Carrier VoIP Q4 2009 and YE 2009 market shares” that shows that the worldwide market for Carrier VoIP totaled just over $10 billion for the full year 2009.

    Year over year, the market fell 18 percent; significantly less than drops measured in other Telecom and IT equipment markets.

    The biggest drivers for Carrier VoIP traditionally have been migrating aging TDM PSTN switches to VoIP platforms. In the last 24 months further growth has been added with Mobile Operators pursuing the Capex and OpEx advantages of IP as did the Wireline networks before it.

    According to Synergy, mobile deployments for Carrier VoIP have made a serious impact on market sizes and market players for the VoIP Media

    “Gateway market. Over the last 2 years the changes have been dramatic and change continues with GENBAND’s impending acquisition of Nortel’s CVAS group. The move by GENBAND will garner a market share position twice that of their nearest competitor,” say analysts.

    Synergy believes that IMS will have a strong impact on the Carrier VoIP market over the coming years. In 2009, it was clear that IMS made its mark as a highly viable and transformational service delivery platform for both fixed line and mobile carriers. One such marquee IMS example is AT&T’s U-Verse network where they have added over 1 Million IMS VoIP subscribers in the last 12 months.

    "Although IMS has been around for a number of years, it clearly showed its potential in 2009," said Jeremy Duke, Principal Analyst and Founder, Synergy Research Group.

    "Synergy believes 2010 will show more IMS market development with increased deployments and continued industry cooperation such as that seen with the One Voice Initiative."

    Another growing area being tracked by Synergy includes the GGSN/SGSN and PDN equipment markets. Synergy says that with Smart Phone usage increasing, a tidal wave of data and video traffic is building that will force mobile operators to make large investments to contend with the change in traffic.

    “We anticipate seeing more vendor activity here as vendors jockey to position themselves to take advantage of this network investment — as seen with Cisco acquiring Starent in late 2009,” says Synergy.

  • Mobile Phone Shipments Rebound To Double-Digit Growth in Q4 2009

    The worldwide mobile phone market grew 11.3% in the fourth quarter of 2009, ending five consecutive quarters of retrenchment. According to IDC‘s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 325.3 million units in 4Q09 compared to 292.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2008.

    Vendors shipped a total of 1.13 billion units on a cumulative worldwide basis in 2009, down 5.2% from the 1.19 billion units shipped in 2008.

    "The mobile phone market has rebounded in dramatic fashion," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Phone Tracker.

    "The Asia/Pacific region and the United States were primarily responsible for pushing the market back into growth territory. Overall, vendors offered a wide array of converged mobile devices and messaging devices in the seasonally strong fourth quarter, to take advantage of increased user demand."

    According to Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team, consumer tastes for mobile phones have increasingly shifted from simple voice telephony to greater data usage, and both handset vendors and carriers have been eager to meet demand despite ongoing economic challenges.

    IDC anticipates that the worldwide mobile phone market will rebound in 2010. "Economic recovery mixed with pent-up demand will create positive conditions for handset vendors in both developed and emerging markets in 2010,” said Llamas.

    The research shows that in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), 2009 as a whole was relatively flat year on year, marked by a stronger preference for low-cost handsets in China and India as users substituted away from more expensive options under recessionary pressure.

    However, the Asia/Pacific market saw strong gains in 4Q09, reflecting a strong start to recovery.

    Touchscreen-enabled devices remained a hot segment of the market, helping to drive the demand for converged mobile devices across the region.

    The Western European handset market grew on both a year-over-year and sequential basis in 4Q09.

    LG Electronics and Samsung performed particularly well thanks to their collective strength in the traditional mobile phones segment while Apple, Nokia, and Research In Motion helped sustain growth in the converged mobile device market.

    On a full-year basis, however, shipments into the region still declined as the improved second-half performance was not enough to offset the declines in the first half.

    In CEMA vendors found pockets of improvement during 4Q09, but overall sales in the region were focused on entry-level handsets targeted at first-time users.

    According to IDC, the North American market finished 2009 relatively strong posting the second-highest regional growth after the Asia/Pacific region. Converged mobile devices remained in high demand in the fourth quarter due to a combination of lower priced devices and rate plans as well as greater user and carrier interest.

    However, feature phones accounted for the majority of shipments last year despite an overall volume decrease on a year-over-year basis. In Canada, mobile phone shipment volumes were buoyed by the introduction of a new wireless network, which increased the demand for smartphones, particularly the Apple iPhone.

    Related articles
    IDC: 450 Million Mobile Internet Users Worldwide in 2009, One Billion by 2013

  • IDC: 450 Million Mobile Internet Users Worldwide in 2009, One Billion by 2013

    There were more than 450 million mobile Internet users worldwide in 2009, a number that is expected to more than double by the end of 2013, according to IDC.

    IDC’s Worldwide Digital Marketplace Model and Forecast finds that most popular online activities of mobile Internet users are similar to those of other Internet users: using search engines, reading news and sports information, downloading music and videos, and sending/receiving email and instant messages.

    Over the next four years, IDC expects some of the fastest growing applications for mobile Internet users will be making online purchases, participating in online communities, and creating blogs.

    Accessing online business applications and corporate email systems will also grow rapidly as businesses move to empower their mobile workforce.

    Highlights from IDC research include the following:

    • More than 1.6 billion devices worldwide were used to access the Internet in 2009, including PCs, mobile phones, and online videogame consoles.

    • China continues to have more Internet users than any other country, with 359 million in 2009. This number is expected to grow to 566 million by 2013. The United States had 261 million Internet users in 2009, a figure that will reach 280 million in 2013. India will have one of the fastest growing Internet populations, growing almost two-fold between 2009 and 2013.

    • Presently, the United States has far more total devices connected to the Internet than any other country. China, however, is the leader in in the number of mobile online devices with almost 85 million mobile devices connected to the Internet in 2009.

    • Worldwide, more than 624 million Internet users will make online purchases in 2009, totaling nearly $8 trillion (both business to business and business to consumer). By 2013, worldwide eCommerce transactions will be worth more than $16 trillion.

    • Worldwide spending on Internet advertising will total nearly $61 billion in 2009, which is slightly more than 10% of all ad spending across all media. This share is expected to reach almost 15%% by 2013 as Internet ad spending grows surpasses $100 billion worldwide.

    "With a wealth of information and services available from almost anywhere, Internet-connected mobile devices are reshaping the way we go about our personal and professional lives. With an explosion in applications for mobile devices underway, the next several years will witness another sea change in the way users interact with the Internet and further blur the lines between personal and professional," said John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC.

  • VoIP Investment Remains Strong, IP Line Penetration Rose to 40% in Q3

    According to the recent Canalys report on IP telephony, investment in enterprise telephony remained restricted in EMEA in Q3 2009, with call control line shipments down 17.5% compared with the same period in 2008.

    The research shows volume declined 21.5% in Q1, while Q2 was down 18.6%. In total, 4.8 million lines were shipped in the quarter, a 4.4% sequential increase. IP line penetration increased to 40%, up from 35% one year earlier, as businesses continued to replace aging TDM infrastructure and expand trial projects.

    Canalys claims aggressive cash-back, fixed price, minimum spend and competitor trade-in promotions, as well as 0% financing offers have helped prevent greater reductions in shipments during 2009.

    Alcatel-Lucent, Siemens and Aastra continue to lead in EMEA, with Cisco gaining ground.

    ‘Alcatel-Lucent has been a stable performer in the region over the last eight quarters, overtaking Siemens as the market leader in 2008,’ said Alex Smith, a Research Analyst at Canalys.

    ‘During the recession, it has managed to maintain its market share, though its Q3 shipments were hit by the holiday season in its core markets, particularly France, Spain and Italy,’ Smith added.

    Siemens remained the second largest vendor with a market share of 13.5%, though this has steadily eroded over the last two years. Overall, Siemens is continuing to invest in growing its indirect business, but shifting direct accounts to the channel will take time, according to Canalys.

    In September, it announced plans to accelerate this process by selling its direct sales organisations in 27 non-core countries to Netlink, a deal worth €204 million ($308 million), more than the original €175 million ($275 million) the Gores Group paid Siemens AG for its 51% stake in the overall business.

    Aastra was the third largest vendor in the region, with a market share of 13.0%. During the quarter, Aastra benefited from competitor cash-back trade-in promotions in France, while investment in direct-touch activities helped it improve its German business, finds the report.

    Cisco continued to grow its market share during the recession, primarily driven by gains in Western Europe, particularly in Germany where it has invested heavily in marketing and sales resources. It accounted for 11.6% of total shipments, compared with 11.2% in Q2 and 10.3% in Q3 2008.

    Avaya, which grew its shipments by 4.2% over Q2 with strong sales in the UK, catalysed by the release of IP Office R5, won the auction for the Nortel Enterprise business. Canalys says new entity has the potential to emerge as the leading vendor in EMEA.

    ‘Shipments for the final quarter of 2009, typically the largest in EMEA, are expected to grow sequentially but will still be down annually as many businesses set budgets earlier in the year when economic conditions were worse. Year-on-year growth is expected to resume in 2010, though volumes will still be lower than in 2008 as economic recovery is expected to be slow after the worst recession for decades,’ said Matthew Ball, a Senior Analyst at Canalys.

  • IDC: EMC Led The Overall Storage Software Market in Q3

    According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Storage Software Tracker, the worldwide storage software market experienced another decline in year-over-year growth in the third quarter of 2009 with revenues of $2.87 billion, representing –7.9% growth over the same quarter one year ago, but a 1.2% growth from the previous quarter.

    IDC report shows EMC led the overall market with 23.4% revenue share in the third quarter of 2009. Symantec held onto the second position with 17.8% revenue share, while IBM finished in the third position with 12.2% revenue share.

    NetApp finished in the fourth position with 7.6% revenue share while CA rounded out the top 5 with 3.9 revenue share.

    For the second quarter in a row, only two of the top 5 vendors displayed a positive growth over the previous quarter. EMC and IBM displayed positive growth rates of 5.7%, and 6.9% respectively, while Symantec, NetApp, and CA each had negative growth rates from the previous quarter of –2.1%, –8.9%, and –3% respectively.

    “Two out of the top three vendors in the data protection and recovery market grew sequentially (IBM and EMC) while the leader Symantec declined at 1.2%,” said Michael Margossian, research analyst, Storage Software at IDC.

    Symantec is still the market leader with 31.1% market share, and IBM and EMC having 14.1% and 12.8% market share respectively.

    EMC regain the top spot in the replication market, with 10.7% growth over 2Q09, while NetApp declined 10.1%.

    “The storage software market was barely able to maintain a positive sequential growth rate in the third quarter of 2009,” concluded Margossian.

  • LED Breathes New Life into Monitor Market

    Capitalizing on the slim form factor and energy savings potential, the use of LEDs in LCD monitor panels is growing rapidly, according to DisplaySearch.

    “Although the desktop monitor market is mature, panel makers and brands are working together to develop new features such as slimness and lower power consumption to rejuvenate the sector,” say the analysts.

    Panel makers are using LED backlights in mainstream monitor sizes such as 18.5”, 19”, 22”, and 23”/24”. Although LED backlight penetration in monitor panels was only 1.4% in Q3’09, current panel maker plans indicate that the penetration could reach 22% in Q3’10, assuming adoption by brands.

    According to DisplaySearch’s latest Quarterly LED Backlight Panel Shipment & Forecast Report, InnoLux was the leading supplier of LED backlit monitor panels in Q3’09, with 34.4% of unit shipments.

    Other panel makers producing such panels include LG Display, AUO, Samsung and CMO. Brands like Samsung, Dell, LG, Acer, Lenovo, BenQ and AOC began launching LED backlit LCD monitors ranging from 18.5” to 24” in Q3’09.

    DisplaySearch says in Q1’10, 20”, 23.6” and 27” panels will enter the market. In addition, there are small LCD TV sizes such as 26” that are adapting monitor panels, the LED backlight is also brining the attractions to this segment.

    TV brands like Vizio are promoting 18.5” and 23” LCD TV using LED backlit monitor panels, and more brands are expected to join in 2010.

    “LEDs have significant advantages over traditional backlights, such as power consumption, slim form factor, and product differentiation,” noted Brian Chen, DisplaySearch Research Director for TFT LCD & Materials and the author of the report.

    He claims while there are still some technical concerns such as brightness performance, the LED backlight premium in the LCD monitor is much smaller than LCD TV.

    “Meanwhile, the awareness of green technology and energy savings factors in LEDs has generated consumer demand. We are seeing panel makers and also monitor brands promoting LED backlights—resulting in panel makers’ aggressive target for 22% penetration in Q3’10,” he said.

  • Almost Two Million Mobile WiMAX Subscribers Expected by End of 2009

    Larger-scale mobile WiMAX network deployments are finally becoming a reality, according to recent ABI Research report.

    The research shows Clearwire in the United States has already declared 173,000 subscribers, Yota in Russia has been growing at a decent rate reaching 100,000 subscribers in August and 200,000 in October, and PacketOne in Malaysia has reached 130,000 subscribers.

    “UQ Communications once expected to reach 300,000 subscribers by the end of 2009, but is behind schedule in its rollout and will fall short of that initial target. South Korea has seen KT’s and SKT’s subscriber numbers remain fairly stagnant, while these service providers prepare for another big push as a third WiMAX service provider comes to South Korea,” says the report.

    ABI Research predicts this handful of WiMAX service providers alone will account for a significant minority of the nearly two million mobile WiMAX subscribers expected by the end of 2009.

    "Mobile WiMAX service providers around the world find themselves in very different situations," comments ABI Research practice director Philip Solis.

    "Some are mainly focused on fixed services for homes and businesses, while others are jumping feet first into mobile WiMAX, offering a variety of external modems, laptops, netbooks and even handsets tied into HD multimedia services, as with Yota in Russia. Some have little fixed or mobile broadband competition, while others are competing directly against fixed and mobile broadband services.

    "Some, such as Japan’s UQ Communications, are behind their buildout schedules and subscriber expectations, while others such are Clearwire are increasing the pace of their deployments because of more-than-adequate funding. Still others such as Yota in Russia are exceeding all expectations. Some are remaining local, while others, such as Clearwire and Yota, are building networks in more than one country.”

    The research group also says that just as the mobile WiMAX market is starting to bloom, LTE networks from early movers such as Verizon Wireless and NTT DoCoMo are targeting the same potential customers.

    According to the analysts, LTE ecosystem will eventually be vastly larger than the mobile WiMAX ecosystem. “But just as LTE deployments start picking up in 2011 and 2012, some 802.16e service providers will begin upgrading their networks to 802.16m,” they say.

  • U.S. Smartphone Market – Only the Strong Will Survive

    According to the recent Canalys Smartphone Analysis, the smart phone market continues to increase as a proportion of the overall mobile phone market in the US.

    Despite a drop in market growth to 6% in Q3 2009, down from 37% in Q2 2009, smart phones represented 26% of all mobile phones shipped in Q3 2009. This is up from 24% in Q2 2009 and will continue to rise in coming quarters.

    The top two smart phone vendors increased their combined market share in Q3 to 76.3%. Research in Motion (RIM) held 48.1% while Apple held 28.2%.

    “Despite what looks like a ‘closed shop’, with continued growth expected in the US smart phone market there is still plenty to play for, and new products are coming thick and fast from the competition,” the report says.

    Four other smartphone platforms in the US market today – Android, Symbian S60, webOS and Windows Mobile – represented only 23.7% of the market in Q3.

    Canalys claims the challenge for the handset vendors on the multivendor platforms is to “differentiate their products, especially as the market gets busier, while also providing competition to Apple and RIM and choice to the consumer.”

    Canalys also thinks that with an increasing number of Android and Windows Mobile devices launching, there can be little, by looking at the specifications, to choose between one and another on the same platform. “A key product differentiator will be seen in the software and the user interface. In short it is all about the user experience, particularly how the user organises their favourite applications, content, messages, people and places,” analysts say.

    Canalys says Verizon needs to fight back against the iPhone’s tremendous success and will be hoping the new Android devices (Motorola’s Droid and HTC’s Droid Eris) will “light up its somewhat uninspiring consumer device portfolio.” Demand for Android devices will be helped by the addition of Google Maps Navigation on Android 2.0.

    Analysts reminds us of the fact that AT&T is the only one of the big four US mobile operators not yet to range an Android device.

    RIM’s US device shipments were up 27.5% in Q3. Around 3.8 million net new subscriber accounts were added worldwide in its fiscal quarter and profits beat analyst expectations. According to Canalys estimates, RIM, with only the Storm, held a 2.2% share of US touch-screen smart phones in Q3 2009. As its entry-level and mid-range (mostly keyboard-based) devices increasingly come up against new touchscreen Android devices, buyers’ appetite for BlackBerry devices will be tested.

    The iPhone remains the leading consumer smart phone in the US. The response to the iPhone 3G S was ‘tremendous’ and ‘very surprising’ according to Apple, so much so that many international markets had limited supply for several weeks.

    Canalys says with each software release the iPhone gets more ‘CIO friendly’. According to Apple, the iPhone is being ‘deployed or piloted’ at more than 50% of Fortune 100 companies and is doing well in higher education institutions and government agencies, though increased device security will still be needed for broad deployment to be considered in government.

    The report shows that US smart phone share of HTC, the leading worldwide manufacturer of Android smart phones, supplying T-Mobile and Vodafone (in EMEA) as well as selling under the HTC brand, has hovered around the 5-7% mark for five quarters.

    “HTC devices are ranged by the big four US mobile operators. These relationships and the installed base of customers it has are crucial to HTC, and Microsoft. From being the first, HTC is now one of many Android device vendors,” says Canalys.

    According to the research group, Motorola “rose from the ashes” of the smart phone market recently with the announcement of the new Android-based smart phones, the CLIQ with T-Mobile and the Droid with Verizon.

    “If the CLIQ and the Droid do anything like as well as the RAZR did it will give Motorola a solid base for 2010. Working on Android means that building its own app store need not be a top priority for Motorola.,” according to Canalys.

    They also think Nokia really needs a big hit in the US (“It has failed to get its most popular Nseries devices ranged by the leading US mobile operators and it has thus far failed to make a significant impression with its Ovi services in the US”), Palm needs the old volumes back (“Mobile operators must be convinced that they can profit from ranging Palm webOS devices. Palm needs their commitment”), and Samsung has lagged in smart phones, although it still leads the overall US mobile phone market and continues to roll out new handsets with all leading mobile operators at a “blistering pace.”

    Canalys notices that there are more vendors planning to launch smart phones in the US in the next few months: Dell, Kyocera Wireless, LG (Android handsets) and Acer (Android and Windows phones).

    “They will all be faced with the same challenges: getting their smart phones ranged by the mobile operators and capturing the imagination of consumers. The mobile operators can only range, subsidise and promote a certain number of devices. As Apple did, new entrants need to come up with something special, and that is no easy feat,” the report concludes.

  • Samsung Retakes Leadership in U.S. LCD-TV Market

    Samsung in the third quarter retook the No.-1 ranking in the U.S. LCD-TV market from chief competitor Vizio, according to iSuppli.

    The iSuppli research shows the South Korean electronics giant shipped 1.3 million LCD-TVs in the United States during the period from July through September, equaling a 16.8 percent share of the market.

    This gave Samsung a 1.1 percentage point lead over U.S.-based Vizio, which held a 15.7 percent share in the third quarter with shipments of 1.2 million LCD-TVs.

    The last time Samsung held the top spot in the U.S. LCD-TV market was in the fourth quarter of 2008. “Vizio in the first and second quarters of 2009 took the lead in the United States as consumers warmed to its low-cost, full-featured sets sold through high-volume retailers like Wal-Mart,” the report says.

    “However, Samsung in the second quarter began to regain momentum and increase its market share as the company focused on advanced LED-backlit LCD-TVs and reduced prices for its high-end sets.”

    According to Riddhi Patel, principal analyst, television systems, for iSuppli, Samsung is leading the LCD-TV industry’s adoption of LED backlighting technology.

    “The company has been marketing these sets intensely, attracting the interest of U.S. consumers. Consumers like LED-backlit LCD-TVs because of their ultra-thin form factors. With Samsung cutting the prices of these sets aggressively, they now are becoming increasingly affordable for a larger number of U.S. consumers,” she said.

    The report also shows that the United States now leads the world in sales of LCD-TVs with LED backlights: LED-backlit sets accounted for 3.7 percent of total U.S. LCD-TV shipments in the third quarter, up from 2.1 percent in the second.

    Samsung in October was selling 55-inch LED-backlit LCD TVs for $2,650, just $325 more than for equivalent-sized and featured sets using conventional Cold-Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (CCFL) backlighting technology.

    “This low price point and minimal gap with CCFL sets represents a critical price threshold for LED-backlit sets, making them more acceptable to U.S. consumers,” Patel said.

    She adds that most of the Top-5 LCD-TV brands in the U.S. saw their shipments and market shares decline in the third quarter compared to the second, as smaller companies increased their sales.

    iSuppli predicts the fourth quarter, which brings the Christmas selling season, will bring stronger shipment growth because of aggressive discounts for full-featured LCD-TVs.

    “Furthermore, retailers are expected to offer attractive deals on product bundles. Such bundles will include LCD-TVs sold with Blu-ray players, surround-sound systems, DVRs, game consoles, and installation services. Premium brands such as Samsung, LG and Sony are expected to lead the way with these packaged deals,” Patel said.