Smartphone Market Update (Update 1)

The news is out, RIM had a blockbuster quarter selling 10.1 million handsets.  That’s a lot of Blackberries!  Apple, for it’s part sold 7.4 iPhones in 3Q 2009 and every Wall Street analyst is predicting the iPhone will breach the vaunted 10 million per quarter mark as well.  RIM and Apple’s success, quarter after quarter is not new and is no longer surprising.

We also know that the smartphone market as a whole is growing, at the expense of regular(proprietary) phones that access the internet, feature phones.  If you wondered why Samsung is creating it’s own platform called Bada, it’s obvious that feature phones are a dying breed.  This is made clear by the chart below.  In essence, it’s really unfair to call anything besides a major platform proprietary since major platforms are likely to be just as proprietary.  The only way to delineate further would be to label the major platforms, app. phones or platforms, since that is their only distinguishing feature.  All major platforms(listed in chart below) now feature a mobile application store.

So where does this leave us:

1. Windows Mobile/Windows Phone Market Share Eroding
   1. Unit Count Continues to Grow
   2. App Store is a Joke
2. Palm WebOS Devices Struggling
   1. No New Devices on Horizon
   2. Palm Pixi Slow Rumors are True!
   3. Sprint as Exclusive Carrier Hurts
      1. AT&T Started Selling WebOS Devices Recently
3. Android Targets Defacto Platform Status
   1. Unrivaled Platform Development & Smartphone Release Pace
   2. Android Marketplace hits 20K Application Milestone
4. RIM proves it, not Apple is #1
   1. People Want keyboards & Amazing Battery Life
   2. Retains Messaging Mission, Succeeds
   3. App Store is a Joke
   4. OS Needs Visual/Other Upgrades
5. Apple Needs to Sustain Momentum
   1. iPhone OS 4.0 Must be Stunning to keep Mindshare & Marketshare
   2. Hardware Must be Differentiated Going Forward
   3. Future Apple Tablet might make Apple lose “phone” focus
6. In Early Stages of Smartphone Market
   1. Room for every competitor to take market share
   2. Room for mistakes
   3. Room for Samsung Bada?
   4. Room for Whatever Is Coming at CES in January?

All metrics are courtesy of comScore.

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