The battleground for smart-phone market domination has never been hotter with Finland's Nokia feeling pressure on its position as the world's leading mobile-phone manufacturer.
Nokia's market share fell to 28.9% last year from 36.4% in 2009, tumbling 10 percentage points in the fourth quarter to 27.1% from 36.6%. This despite total world handset sales surging by 32% to 1.6 billion units in 2010, according to figures released by research firm Gartner.
Global smartphone sales rose a remarkable 72% last year to 297 million units, with devices based on Google's Android system increasing sales almost 10-fold to 67.2 million units from 6.8 million in 2009.
Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop publicly acknowledged that the company had fallen behind Android and iPhone in innovation; he stated that Nokia "faces significant challenges in our competitiveness and our execution".
The company may even adopt a new software strategy by using Android or Windows for some of its devices.
Android is on a roll, not only angling to take the number one spot for mobile operating system from Nokia's Symbian, but also eclipsing archrivals Apple. Last year, an average of 184,000 Android phones were sold per day compared with Apple's 127,000 iOS powered devices, a total of 46.6 million units for the year.
Total operating system market share for Android rose to 22.7%, putting it in second place behind Symbian, which has 37.6%. The key to its success has been strong manufacturer support, with companies such as LG, HTC, Samsung, and Motorola striving to launch ever-more innovative and feature-rich devices to run the platform.
Rivals Apple and Research In Motion lock their software only into their devices so they cannot expect to see such rapid market share growth. That said, the recent tablet frenzy should give a boost to Apple with iOS also running on the popular iPad.
Increased availability of Apple's iPhone 4 helped iOS capture the number four spot with a 15.7% market share, just behind the Blackberry platform at 16%. Market share for Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform halved to 4.2% in 2010 from 8.7% in 2009. The company hopes it can turn this around in 2011 with the Windows Phone 7.
Hardware
Hewlett Packard has released its latest offering to the crowded and expanding tablet market. The HP Touchpad comes armed with a 9.7-inch screen with 1024x768 resolution, which is comparable with the iPad. A 1.2GHz dual core Snapdragon processor powers the unit, which also has a 1.2 Megapixel camera built in, unlike the iPad which doesn't have one.
Rumors are circulating about a new iPad version, the iPad2, going into production, but Apple's customary refusal to offer any details or information has left everyone guessing on likely specifications and upgrades the new tablet will have.
Compared with this time last year, there is now a lot more choice for the tablet hunter; Motorola's Xoom, Samsung's Galaxy Tab, and Research In Motion's Playbook are added to the fray alongside offerings from LG, ASUStek, Lenovo, Acer, Toshiba and Sony, so that in tablet terms Apple's are no longer the only fruit.
Meanwhile, Apple has been doing what it do best, namely censoring - in this case, iPad apps that won't play by company rules. The heavy handedness has resulted in tablet tantrums from European users, developers, and content providers. Apple's new in-app subscription system has riled the European Newspaper Publishers' Association (ENPA) in particular, who argue that the automatic billing system for content delivered to the iPad takes away consumer choice of which publication to read and pay for on a daily basis.
Apple's intention is to confine users to one location for their onlinepublication and content purchases, namely its own iTunes store, and taking a 30% cut of every publication sale.
The ENPA, which represents 5,200 newspapers in the European Union, strongly believes subscriptions should be managed by the publishers themselves, not the platform providers: "The business model of newspapers is dependent on publishers and editors knowing their readers. It is essential that this close connection is maintained. Without direct access to their subscribers, this vital bond between newspapers and readers would be broken, to the detriment of both."
Apple seems to have shut the door on another huge player in the industry, following their earlier rebuffs of Adobe and, more recently, Sony, which was told it could not sell content from its Sony Reader Store through the iPad app.
With the slew of higher specification tablets from other manufacturers hitting the shelves, this may not be a problem for consumers who prefer their freedom of choice in comparison to the ones that remain diehard brand freaks.
Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.
Nokia's market share fell to 28.9% last year from 36.4% in 2009, tumbling 10 percentage points in the fourth quarter to 27.1% from 36.6%. This despite total world handset sales surging by 32% to 1.6 billion units in 2010, according to figures released by research firm Gartner.
Global smartphone sales rose a remarkable 72% last year to 297 million units, with devices based on Google's Android system increasing sales almost 10-fold to 67.2 million units from 6.8 million in 2009.
Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop publicly acknowledged that the company had fallen behind Android and iPhone in innovation; he stated that Nokia "faces significant challenges in our competitiveness and our execution".
The company may even adopt a new software strategy by using Android or Windows for some of its devices.
Android is on a roll, not only angling to take the number one spot for mobile operating system from Nokia's Symbian, but also eclipsing archrivals Apple. Last year, an average of 184,000 Android phones were sold per day compared with Apple's 127,000 iOS powered devices, a total of 46.6 million units for the year.
Total operating system market share for Android rose to 22.7%, putting it in second place behind Symbian, which has 37.6%. The key to its success has been strong manufacturer support, with companies such as LG, HTC, Samsung, and Motorola striving to launch ever-more innovative and feature-rich devices to run the platform.
Rivals Apple and Research In Motion lock their software only into their devices so they cannot expect to see such rapid market share growth. That said, the recent tablet frenzy should give a boost to Apple with iOS also running on the popular iPad.
Increased availability of Apple's iPhone 4 helped iOS capture the number four spot with a 15.7% market share, just behind the Blackberry platform at 16%. Market share for Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform halved to 4.2% in 2010 from 8.7% in 2009. The company hopes it can turn this around in 2011 with the Windows Phone 7.
HardwareHewlett Packard has released its latest offering to the crowded and expanding tablet market. The HP Touchpad comes armed with a 9.7-inch screen with 1024x768 resolution, which is comparable with the iPad. A 1.2GHz dual core Snapdragon processor powers the unit, which also has a 1.2 Megapixel camera built in, unlike the iPad which doesn't have one.
Rumors are circulating about a new iPad version, the iPad2, going into production, but Apple's customary refusal to offer any details or information has left everyone guessing on likely specifications and upgrades the new tablet will have.
Compared with this time last year, there is now a lot more choice for the tablet hunter; Motorola's Xoom, Samsung's Galaxy Tab, and Research In Motion's Playbook are added to the fray alongside offerings from LG, ASUStek, Lenovo, Acer, Toshiba and Sony, so that in tablet terms Apple's are no longer the only fruit.
Meanwhile, Apple has been doing what it do best, namely censoring - in this case, iPad apps that won't play by company rules. The heavy handedness has resulted in tablet tantrums from European users, developers, and content providers. Apple's new in-app subscription system has riled the European Newspaper Publishers' Association (ENPA) in particular, who argue that the automatic billing system for content delivered to the iPad takes away consumer choice of which publication to read and pay for on a daily basis.
Apple's intention is to confine users to one location for their onlinepublication and content purchases, namely its own iTunes store, and taking a 30% cut of every publication sale.
The ENPA, which represents 5,200 newspapers in the European Union, strongly believes subscriptions should be managed by the publishers themselves, not the platform providers: "The business model of newspapers is dependent on publishers and editors knowing their readers. It is essential that this close connection is maintained. Without direct access to their subscribers, this vital bond between newspapers and readers would be broken, to the detriment of both."
Apple seems to have shut the door on another huge player in the industry, following their earlier rebuffs of Adobe and, more recently, Sony, which was told it could not sell content from its Sony Reader Store through the iPad app.
With the slew of higher specification tablets from other manufacturers hitting the shelves, this may not be a problem for consumers who prefer their freedom of choice in comparison to the ones that remain diehard brand freaks.
Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand.
