Year: 2010

Were Nokia and Symbian always inter-dependent?

Several readers pointed out that in my discussion on the market share of modular vs. inter-dependent market shares for smartphones, Nokia was incorrectly classified as having an inter-dependent software architecture since the Symbian platform is/was a modular component.

The problem is that the relationship between Symbian and Nokia is not that of independent modules. Nominally, the two are independent and mutually exclusive, but, in practice, Symbian has always been so heavily dependent and influenced by Nokia that it’s never been possible to declare its governance fully independent. Continue reading “Were Nokia and Symbian always inter-dependent?”

Android remains the only mobile OS still patterned after Microsoft's 2002 vision of the mobile value chain

Belfiore wasn’t shy about criticizing Google’s Android OS. Even though Google currently dominates the mobile OS market, its strategy of licensing the Android OS to manufacturers is similar to Microsoft’s previous approach with Windows Mobile: It’s open-ended, and there are few restrictions on how manufacturers can use or modify the OS.

As a result, Android is suffering from some of the same issues as Windows Mobile did: Android works better on some phones than others, manufacturers are shipping different versions of the OS on different phones, some Android phones are shipping with bloatware made by carriers, and some app developers complain that it’s difficult to make software because of the hardware and OS fragmentation.

via How Microsoft Hit CTRL+ALT+DEL on Windows Phone | Gadget Lab | Wired.com.

Continue reading “Android remains the only mobile OS still patterned after Microsoft's 2002 vision of the mobile value chain”

HTC to re-bone Android?

Peter Chou, chief executive of HTC, had previously said he saw “little value” in HTC running its own application store. But he has also said that it was no longer enough for HTC to simply customise the standard Android user interface with its own “skin”: “It is not enough to be skin-deep. We need to go bone-deep.”

via FT.com / Technology – HTC to target online app store.

HTC was the world’s biggest Windows Mobile vendor, at one time claiming to have sold over 80% of all WinMo phones ever made.

Continue reading “HTC to re-bone Android?”

Citizen Publisher

In March this year Richard Stengel, managing editor of Time magazine, was speaking about the iPad.

For a while many movies were more like filmed plays, until directors really learned to take advantage of the opportunities of the medium. For the iPad “The medium is waiting for its Orson Welles.”

The idea that a new medium needs a new media is not novel. The implication that the new media needs a new genius to define it also follows naturally. However, the implications of new media for the creative industries that are built around them are more difficult to perceive. How are the structures of these industries shaped by disruptive innovations?
Continue reading “Citizen Publisher”

In London for Apps World

As London seems to have a particularly high concentration of readers, I thought I’d mention that I’ll be in London for the Apps World Exhibition 30th November and 1st December 2010. I’ll be attending as an official blogger and will cover the event.

If you are interested in meeting at or near the event let me know by email.

If there is enough interest, I will consider having a modest gathering at a venue nearby.

Samsung's smartphones make up 10% of total sold. Nokia is at 30% and Motorola is over 40%.

Today’s chart: the percent of smartphones as part of the total phones sold for three vendors vendors that have traditionally sold a large portion of voice-oriented phones.

As these vendors switch to a higher mix of smartphones, their distribution network will ensure a continuing surge in overall smartphone penetration.

Most of Samsung’s increase has come in the last two quarters. Note also the rate of growth in Nokia’s mix. Motorola and Samsung owe it all to Android.

Navigating the quarterly mobile market data set

Given the large number of articles written in the last week on market data, I built a navigation table and posted it in a page that is easy to access:

QUARTERLY MARKET DATA

You can find it under the ADDs tab at the top of the site.

Cells marked with “x” are work in progress.

How much profit did vendors capture from Android-powered phones?

Following-up on the profitability discussion for the top eight vendors, I built a chart to show estimated profit capture from smartphones, further dividing the vendors into inter-dependent (own OS) and modular (licensed OS)[1]. Continue reading “How much profit did vendors capture from Android-powered phones?”