I just wonder sometimes what will the mobile industry look like in coming few years and this made me come up with the idea of writing this article.
We all know Mobile industry is a very volatile market, we have been witnessing the rise and fall of many mobile handsets and chipset manufactures.
We all know Mobile industry is a very volatile market, we have been witnessing the rise and fall of many mobile handsets and chipset manufactures.
If you see on the right hand side ,we see an intresting trend ,from year 2006-2009 there growth curve of regular mobile handset is almost flat while the smartphone sales rise is quite steep.
Nokia are world leaders in Mobile since 1998 but as we all know they are also constantly losing their share in past few years and how can be forget Motorola which had a market share of around 16 % in year 2003 has almost lost the ground, but thanks to Motorola Android based Milestone they are desperately trying for comeback .On the other sides are the LGs and Samsung who are constantly eating the market share of other players,Samsung from around 12% in 2003 has grown up to >20% market share in recent days .On the smart phone front ,Nokia with Symbain was the clear leader few years back but again in this segment Symbain is losing ground to the RIMs ,iphone and new kid in the block ,Android .Android is a very short span has already reached the double figures .
Before getting into smart phone details I want to share something here.
We all keep hearing terms like Entry level phone, Feature phones and Smart phones, this might strike a question, what’s really the difference between feature phone and smart phone?
But before answering this question let me tell you smart phones evolution start way back in 1992 when IBM launched Simon which was more like n PDA with Modem functionality. But things have changed drastically in current scenario.
Ok, let’s try to answer this question.
Smartphone's operating system (OS), allowing users to run third-party applications.
They have ability to access the Web and download apps, a large storage capacity and a qwerty keyboard.
Feature phones are more of feature focused with a special capability or purpose in mind like Music or imaging. Smart phones include a broader range of features without heavily focusing on a specific purpose
To summarize Smartphone is a phone that has its own operating system and can run third-party applications. Classical Examples like blackberry, Apple, iPhone.
Counterview to what we just said is :
Feature Phones are not as expandable as Smart phones, but the line is blurring. Almost every Feature Phone sold today ships with Java Micro Edition (J2ME™), which is much like an operating system in that it allows users to download third-party applications to their phones.
As I mentioned earlier game is changing in the mobile industry and specifically the Smart phone.
The mobile wireless industry is historically dominated by the powerful network operators and mobile manufacturers design. But in present days its multiple functionalities, more features, the demand for near web- user experience on mobile devices and that’s why we see the sales figure of iphone ,android based phones are booming .
And there is also a trend ongoing where chipset makers or mobile manufactures are moving towards Smartphone platforms and Application processors to support them .TI has washed hand with its Modem business and concentrating on Application processors with OMAP(X) and who can forget NOKIA which is showing strong strategy shift in moving towards mobile services and concentrating on smart phone platforms .
Nokia is focusing a lot on OVI store, they have Maemo platform and recently they have joined hand with intel to form MeeGo , which is again an open source smartphone platform based on UNIX .There is also Qt framework started by NOKIA which is an application development framework and its claimed by NOKIA that Applications created by Qt can be ported on different operating systems as well as platforms.
Now let’s see how the smart phone industry is doing these days and let me share with you the key differentiators between these platforms.
Nokia are world leaders in Mobile since 1998 but as we all know they are also constantly losing their share in past few years and how can be forget Motorola which had a market share of around 16 % in year 2003 has almost lost the ground, but thanks to Motorola Android based Milestone they are desperately trying for comeback .On the other sides are the LGs and Samsung who are constantly eating the market share of other players,Samsung from around 12% in 2003 has grown up to >20% market share in recent days .On the smart phone front ,Nokia with Symbain was the clear leader few years back but again in this segment Symbain is losing ground to the RIMs ,iphone and new kid in the block ,Android .Android is a very short span has already reached the double figures .
Before getting into smart phone details I want to share something here.
We all keep hearing terms like Entry level phone, Feature phones and Smart phones, this might strike a question, what’s really the difference between feature phone and smart phone?
But before answering this question let me tell you smart phones evolution start way back in 1992 when IBM launched Simon which was more like n PDA with Modem functionality. But things have changed drastically in current scenario.
Ok, let’s try to answer this question.
Smartphone's operating system (OS), allowing users to run third-party applications.
They have ability to access the Web and download apps, a large storage capacity and a qwerty keyboard.
Feature phones are more of feature focused with a special capability or purpose in mind like Music or imaging. Smart phones include a broader range of features without heavily focusing on a specific purpose
To summarize Smartphone is a phone that has its own operating system and can run third-party applications. Classical Examples like blackberry, Apple, iPhone.
Counterview to what we just said is :
Feature Phones are not as expandable as Smart phones, but the line is blurring. Almost every Feature Phone sold today ships with Java Micro Edition (J2ME™), which is much like an operating system in that it allows users to download third-party applications to their phones.
As I mentioned earlier game is changing in the mobile industry and specifically the Smart phone.
The mobile wireless industry is historically dominated by the powerful network operators and mobile manufacturers design. But in present days its multiple functionalities, more features, the demand for near web- user experience on mobile devices and that’s why we see the sales figure of iphone ,android based phones are booming .
And there is also a trend ongoing where chipset makers or mobile manufactures are moving towards Smartphone platforms and Application processors to support them .TI has washed hand with its Modem business and concentrating on Application processors with OMAP(X) and who can forget NOKIA which is showing strong strategy shift in moving towards mobile services and concentrating on smart phone platforms .
Nokia is focusing a lot on OVI store, they have Maemo platform and recently they have joined hand with intel to form MeeGo , which is again an open source smartphone platform based on UNIX .There is also Qt framework started by NOKIA which is an application development framework and its claimed by NOKIA that Applications created by Qt can be ported on different operating systems as well as platforms.
Now let’s see how the smart phone industry is doing these days and let me share with you the key differentiators between these platforms.
The above comparison highlights certain things, for instance , Linux is the future ,it’s going to Linux all around .Another things quite evident is usage of open source code as part of these platforms .This comparison might not be highlighting all of them, but to name a few most of the platforms are using Webkit as the search engine ,SQLite for database etc ..etc .Another point to notice is the demand and usage of Java as the preferred programming language .
Let us also give a look to how are the smart phone sales moving further .This will showcase the point I was making earlier that how Symbain is losing ground and how Android is cementing its place in the future of mobiles .
Let us also give a look to how are the smart phone sales moving further .This will showcase the point I was making earlier that how Symbain is losing ground and how Android is cementing its place in the future of mobiles .
With this I would like to conclude on this topic, let’s be game for the changing mobile industry, where ever it goes I am quite sure mobiles have a long and bright future and it’s going to be smart phones all around.
3 comments:
One interesting thing which i noticed and is quite evident from recent industry trends , mobile phone technology increasing capability to do whatever you can with PC and PC world trying to come up with tiny PC versions they call smartphone. Iphone is classic example and took the edge over Microsoft phones with their classy and form factor.
I expect lot of changes and excited to see when both these gaps are bridged and people say "Whats next" . Personally i feel there are lot of other exciting things which could be done and of course people are doing with bit slower pace.
Voice and gesture modalities are some schools of thought and could open up and rather change the scope of mobile technology .
But true, lot of things are expected in future.
Yes ,thats rightly said tarun .
It going to a merge to PC and Mobile sonner than later ,but for time being its Smart phones as par as Mobile handsets are concerned.
Another important related addon point here is the rise of intrest in Application processors ,be it Samsung ,Qualcomm ,ST Ericsson or TI everyone is gearing up for the same .
And not to forget the App developers in the ecosystem. Without them, smartphones are nothing. In my opinion, the merging of a PC and mobile phone depends on what is the use case - if we want to talk, we use mobiles and if we want to do more, we need a smartphone / PC. As we move ahead, there are may applications that traditionally required talking will move ahead with their integration with complex applications (talking and chatting, video conferencing, sharing a white board while talking etc) so a device with all these capabilities cannot be avoided. iPad is an example with 3G integrated for internet and voice. What next? Gestures and voice commands are already here and mature - I use it in my Android. What next is the integration with our body, daily tools and seamless integration of ALL the electronic devices. Be it watch, camera, phone, pace maker, home control appliance, home security appliance, or PC. It all depends on standardization though, but it will come. Companies and people can't always fight - they will cooperate eventually or at least follow the leader.
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