Apple sees 98% iPhone growth as Microsoft, Google prepare for battle
Analyst Charlie Wolf with Needham & Company provided a breakdown of the expanding smartphone market, which in the holiday quarter rebounded from just 5.6 percent growth over the previous four quarters. While Apple saw the greatest success, Nokia's shipments also jumped 37.3 percent and Research in Motion saw a spike of 41.2 percent.
While the recession has softened and the smartphone market is recovering, Wolf is now looking to the future and the fiercely competitive handset business.
"Events since the beginning of 2010 have turned the market into a land grab not dissimilar to the California gold rush in the 1800s," Wolf wrote. "Everyone is chasing the iPhone which has taken on an aura that far exceeds the phone's market share. The aura stems from the disruptive design and functionality of the first iPhone, and it has been reinforced by the remarkable success of the iPhone App Store."
The analyst said he believes the smartphone market has turned into a "land grab" that is "virtually certain" to lead to a brutal battle between Microsoft and Google. He said Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series won't kill the iPhone, which exists in a class by itself, but it will be a potential "Android killer." Windows Phone 7 Series, Wolf said, is evidence that Microsoft "finally gets it."
"Microsoft has delivered on the necessary condition for success — a smartphone operating system that should enable it to play in the same sandbox with Apple, Google and BlackBerry," he wrote. "We've frequently criticized Microsoft's inept efforts in delivering a user-friendly smartphone operating system. Such criticisms are now in the past."
The real coming smartphone battle, he said, lies between Google's Android mobile operating system and Windows Phone 7. Android has a few advantages, in that it licensees do not have to pay any fees, and it allows manufacturers to differentiate their phones from other Android devices with custom interfaces. But Android also has no presence on the enterprise market, where Microsoft and its entrenched position with Windows will play to the Redmond, Wash., company's advantage.
"A major battle between Microsoft and Google to win the hearts and minds of the smartphone vendors who are building devices for both platforms appears inevitable."
Microsoft is also expected to extend its new Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system to non-phone devices such as the rumored Zune HD2 portable media player. The first phones running Windows Phone 7 Series are expected to arrive by this holiday.
Wolf also spoke of the success BlackBerry has found "out of the limelight," and the struggles faced by Palm despite the company's "superior platform."
"We have little confidence in a material acceleration in Pre sales because Palm simply does not have the financial resources to market its devices at a level comparable to its competitors," he wrote. "But miracles do occur occasionally."
87 Comments
Is there...more article? It just ends mid-sentence.
All they did was copy the iPhone for the most part.
All they did was copy the iPhone for the most part.
Show me where WP7 is a copy of the iPhone. From all the videos I've seen, the WP7 OS looks and operates completely differently than the iPhone OS.
Show me where WP7 is a copy of the iPhone. From all the videos I've seen, the WP7 OS looks and operates completely differently than the iPhone OS.
They may have copied the idea, but then they modified the idea of the home screen and made it into a mess of icons within an icon. What's the point of that? It's information overload. I predict Windows Mobile 7 will fall like a lead balloon, despite what these "analysts" say. Just because they're Windows enthusiasts doesn't mean that the rest of us that aren't paid to say good stuff about Microsoft will suddenly decide that Windows Mobile 7 is better than iPhone or even Android.
On a side note, let's face it... Palm is being a bit childish here. They do NOT have a superior platform compared to the iPhone. They designed their phone not around general use, but rather social networking. And to be honest, I think I'd prefer general use than specifically tailored interfaces to social networking and media. Having notifications of up to the minute info is great and all, but it's not necessary. And it just clutters up my life. I might just want a simple phone that's easy to use and powerful, not one that constantly says a friend did this on Facebook or Twitter. And it's not like Palm had a PR disaster with the iTunes sync thing... and then there's their lousy commercials. Whoever hired these clowns for those terrible commercials? They look (and sound) slightly worse than Blackberry commercials, because I can only assume they intended to copy the Blackberry commercials.
stagnant sales? Where's igenius?