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Tag: smartphone-market

  • Smartphone Market Share Held by Samsung; 2.5x Apple’s


    Samsung's sales per quarter have reached 90 million for the first time. This means that Samsung Electronics has beat Apple with over 50 million units of sale. On the other hand, China’s Huawei is now in the third place after LG electronics showed some slowdown in sales in its third quarter smartphone sales.

    According to an American market survey company, Strategy Analytics, Samsung sold 88.4 million smartphones in its third quarter. This saw it clinch the first place in sales with 35.2% of the market share. This means that one in every three smartphones sold was made by Samsung.

    Apple sold 33.8 million units after the release of the iPhone5S. This saw a 2.6 million increase in sales compared to the second quarter. However, its market share dropped by 0.2%. Neil Mawston, SA Analyst indicated that Apple is poised to get back on its track in Q4 with sales from its iPhone5S.

    Huawei ranked  in third place with 12.7 million units, representing 5.1% market share. LG, which was in third place in Q1 and Q2 sold 12million units, representing 4.8% market share. Meanwhile, China’s Lenovo closely follows LG with 10.8 million units representing 4.3% market share.

    Neil Mawston indicated that Samsung’s Galaxy S4 had a reduction in sales, but the Galaxy Y and Galaxy Note 3 had good sales.

    He also indicated that the global smartphone market in the third quarter is 251.4 million, which grew by 45% as compared to last year. He asserts that six out of every ten mobile phones sold around the world are smartphones.

  • Smartphone Sales Surge As Prices Plummet

    The smartphone market is on an upward surge, according to IDC, the market research firm. The market has witnessed an outbreak of cutthroat competition among the major smartphone companies, leading to a fall in phone prices. Low cost coupled with the innovative marketing strategies has led to the growth in the smartphone market.

    The first quarter of 2011 witnessed a sale of 99.6 million smartphones, which is almost double the quantity that was sold in the previous quarter. The sales figures registered a 79.6 percent growth in this period. Senior analyst of Mobile phone Technology and Trends team of IDC, Ramon L lamas, attributed this growth to the prevailing smartphone market conditions.

    Fall of smartphone prices is the major factor that has contributed to the rise in sales. The market is flooded with new models from different companies, which has forced a slash in the rates of even expensive models. The corporate rat race has benefited the consumer market as expensive models are now within the reach of more people.

    The upward trend in the purchase of mobile phones has given companies a fillip in taking their wireless expense management further. IT departments all over the country are concerned about their employees’ demands to provide high-end smartphones.

    The IDC report has forecasted a bright future for Android phones. Google’s Android technology reinstated itself on the top in the first quarter of 2011. The demand for Android based phones has encouraged several phone manufacturers to come with phones that work on Android technology. Samsung registered a profit of 350% and HTC recorded a 229.6% growth in its sales owing to their Android based phones.

    A report by Global Industry Analysts has named enterprise mobility as the force behind the surging smartphone market. By 2017, the smartphone sales are expected to go beyond 1.6 billion units.

  • Berg Insight: Shipments of Smartphones Grew 74 Percent in 2010

    According to a new research report by Berg Insight, global shipments of smartphones increased 74 percent in 2010 to 295 million units. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.4 percent, shipments are forecasted to reach 1,200 million units in 2015.

    The global user base of smartphones increased at the same time by 38 percent year-on-year to an estimated 470 million active users in 2010. In the next five years, the global user base of smartphones is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 42.9 percent to reach 2.8 billion in 2015.

    According to the report’s authors, smartphones are receiving more attention from handset manufacturers, network operators and application developers. Most importantly, an increasing number of users are now discovering how smartphones can act as personal computing devices enabling access to the mobile web and applications, besides voice and text services. Although high-end devices tend to get most attention, the primary growth will come from medium- and low-end smartphones.

    “Chipset developers and handset vendors are working on technologies that will ensure a good user experience also for low cost smartphones”, said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. “The challenge is to develop a handset with enough memory, graphics performance and processing power to run the operating system with multiple applications while ensuring a responsive system with fluid user interface and still keep costs down”.

    He added that smartphones in general will also benefit from advancements in chipset design. In the next five years, further performance increases will come from dual- or quad-core application and graphics processors. These new processors will enable smartphones to rival the performance of dedicated gaming consoles and notebook computers.

    At the same time, new user interfaces will be developed that make better use of sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes as well as cameras to detect movement or gestures without the need to touch the display.

  • IDC: Mobile Phone Recovery Continues with Nearly 22% Growth in Q1

    The worldwide mobile phone market grew 21.7% in the first quarter of 2010, a strong rebound from the market contraction in Q1 2009. Growth was fuelled by increased demand for smartphones, and the global economic recovery.

    According to the IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, vendors shipped 294.9 million units in the first quarter of 2010 compared to 242.4 million units in the first quarter of 2009.

    The report shows that growing demand for smartphones helped Research In Motion move into the top 5 vendor rankings for the first time. RIM, which replaced Motorola in the top 5, tied Sony Ericsson for the number 4 position in IDC’s 1Q10 vendor rankings.

    RIM shipped 10.6 million units in the first quarter while Motorola, which had been a top 5 vendor since the inception of IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker in 2004, shipped 8.5 million units.

    Motorola, the number 2 overall vendor in 2004, registered a fifth place finish last year by virtue of its overall strength in the lower-growth traditional mobile phone category. Motorola has steadily lost share since 2004 when the market started its shift toward higher-end feature phones and smartphones.

    "The entrance of RIM into the top 5 underscores the sustained smartphone growth trend that is driving the global mobile phone market recovery," noted Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker.

    "This is also the first time a vendor has dropped out of the top 5 since the second quarter of 2005, when Sony Ericsson grabbed the number 5 spot from BenQ Siemens," he said.

    IDC believes the worldwide mobile phone market rebound will continue in 2010, though not at the same growth rate as the first quarter.

    "It should be noted that the market’s first-quarter growth, while impressive, is relative to one of the worst quarters in mobile phone industry history (1Q09)," noted Restivo.

    He said that the market’s growth should not be taken as a proxy for future quarters nor annual growth. “In fact, the results essentially match our first quarter projections. We are still expecting growth of 11% for 2010," he added.

    Top five mobile phone vendors according to IDC:
    1. Nokia
    2. Samsung
    3. LG Electronics
    4. RIM
    5. Sony Ericsson

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  • Palm Targeting Smartphone Growth – Not Apple


    Palm’s new CEO Jon Rubinstein believes there is sufficient growth in the smartphone market to profitably sustain "three to five players".

    He was speaking after announcing "strong and growing" sales of the company’s new Pre handset – with download applications now numbering more than 1 million three weeks after it launched.

    What Rubinstein didn’t reveal in unveiling Palm’s fourth quarter results – its last full quarter before releasing the phone – is how many Pre smartphones have actually been sold.

    Analysts estimate Palm has shipped about 150,000 units so far.

    Palm posted a narrower-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter net loss applicable to common shareholders of USD $105 million, compared with a loss of USD $43.4 million in the year-ago period.

    Palm said it could turn cash-flow positive in the second half of fiscal 2010 and reassured analysts that its capital position was sufficient.

    Revenue fell 71 per cent to USD $86.8 million.

    However, despite increased losses and falling revenues, Rubenstein said he was happy with the way the Pre launch had gone.

    While there have been problems with meeting demand at Sprint stores in the US, he said this is being addressed.

    "We’re successfully ramping supply to meet demand that is strong and growing," he said.

    The Pre, featuring Palm’s new WebOS, is entering a smartphone market full of competitors, from Nokia and RIM to HTC.

    A new iPhone 3GS launched last Friday and sold more than a million units in the first three days.

    However, Rubenstein said the "significant growth" forecast for the smartphone industry meant there is room for up to five smartphone manufacturers.

    "We don’t have to beat each other to prosper," he added

  • Pre Launch Kicks Off Smartphone Summer


    So the launch of the Palm Pre is June 6th – and the scene is all set for what is likely to be an exciting summer for the smartphone industry.

    Those joining Palm in announcing new – or updated handsets – over the next few months are Apple with an upgraded iPhone and new phones using the Android operating system from Google.

    The launch season has already begun in the US, with T-Mobile announcing the introduction of the Sidekick LX, while AT& T unveiled the Samsung Jack.

    But the peak time is the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day – a spell that will be a crucial one for the industry in the US, according to the New York Times.

    How the Pre fares is certain to determine the future of loss-making Palm.

    It is a little surprising, then, to hear that Dan Hesse, Palm’s CEO says he expects a shortage of Pre handsets at launch.

    If true, it will certainly lead to headline-making lines forming outside of stores on June 6th.

    But even if it is a sales tactic, it’s a risky one for a company in Palm’s financial situation.

    The stakes are also high for Sprint Nextel, which has exclusive rights to the Pre in the United States.

    Striking a positive note, the NYT comments that with only 100 million smartphones out of the four billion mobile devices in the world, the market is capable of sustaining more than one succesful handset.

    The summer launches will add spice to the general mood of optimism within the smartphone industry.

    Lee Williams, chief of the Symbian Foundation, has predicted smartphone sales will grow 12-15 per cent in 2009, while Marvell Technology Group’s chief executive Sehat Sutardja reckons smartphones will soon make up 50 per cent of the mobile market.

    And the latest figures for smartphone sales suggest demand in unflagging.

  • Dell's Smartphone Preparations Gain Pace


    Dell’s plans for entering the smartphone market have gained some more meat.

    The world’s second largest PC brand is working with two companies to develop software and hardware for new mobile devices.

    Accel’s Jim Breyer join Dell’s board

    Chi Mei Communications – an unlisted unit of Taiwan’s Hon Hai – is involved with the hardware, while China-based Red Office is engineering the operating system, according to Reuters.

    The outcome is expected to be the launch of multiple smartphones in the Chinese market before the end of the year.

    If all goes well, the US and Europe would then get the PC maker’s devices.

    Dell’s move into the smartphone market – and China, where China Mobile is seen as the favored operator – could be part of the reason why it has appointed Jim Breyer, of Venture firm Accel Partners, to its board.

    Already on ten boards, including Facebook, Etsy, Wal-Mart and Marvel, his company launched a USD $250 million fund in China in 2005.

    Breyer’s experience of finding the right partners and market could be important to Dell as it prepares new devices.

  • Smartphone Market: RIM and Apple Closing On Nokia


    Nokia still tops the smartphone market with sales of 60.9 million handsets last year for a total global market share of 43.7 per cent.

    But the Finnish phone-maker’s sales grew by just 0.8 per cent and its market share dropped from 49.4 per cent, with rivals Research In Motion (RIM) and Apple taking bigger slices of the smartphone pie.

    Research firm Gartner said Nokia still has more than double the market share of its closest competitor, RIM, which has 16.6 per cent.

    It points to the introduction of high-profile handsets by competitors as a key factor in Nokia’s slipping market share.

    The researchers predict that while Nokia’s low-end smartphones will continue to fare well, its higher-end N series handsets are in for a tough ride.

    RIM, on the other hand, has profited from new devices, such as the BlackBerry Bold and the BlackBerry Storm, which have taken its market share from 9.6 per cent in 2007 to 16.6 per cent in 2008.

    Generally, Gartner said worldwide sales of smartphones had grown at their slowest pace yet in the fourth quarter of 2008 as the financial crisis hit demand.

    It said an estimated 38.14 million smartphones sold in the three months to December, an increase of 3.7 per cent over the same period in 2007.

    This is the slowest rise since Gartner began tracking the market for smartphones in 2003.

    Nokia suffered a 16.8 per cent drop in sales during the December quarter.

    Total smartphone sales in 2008 reached 139.3 million units, up almost 14 per cent over the previous year.

  • Palm Announces Successor To CFO Andy Brown


    Palm has announced that Douglas C. Jeffries has been appointed as the company’s Chief Financial Officer.

    Previously chief accounting officer at eBay, Jeffries will join Palm in January as replacement for Andy Brown.

    In addition to his role as chief accounting officer at eBay, Jeffries has held financial and information technology leadership roles at GenCorp, Red Herring Communications and Cardinal Health. Jeffries began his career at Price Waterhouse, is a CPA and holds an MBA from the University of Southern California.

    The executive changes come as Palm is about to launch what is being widely seen as the key to its future – a smartphone platform called Nova.

    It is also releasing an App Store for its Palm OS and Windows Mobile-based smartphones along the lines of Apple and Google’s software ventures.

    The beleaguered handset maker is beset by falling sales as it struggles in the smartphone market.

    In mid-2007, Palm hired Jon Rubenstein, formerly an Apple product development specialist who led development on the iMac and iPod, to help revive its fortunes.

    Rubenstein has said that Nova will bridge the market between enterprise-oriented BlackBerry devices from Research In Motion and more consumer-centric ones like Apple’s iPhone 3G.