ESTABLISHED PLAYERS in the mobile handset market are getting pummelled by relative newcomers, according to worldwide sales figures published by the crystal ball gazers at Gartner.
The pin-striped analyst outfit reported that worldwide mobile phone sales showed 35 per cent growth in the third quarter of 2010 over the same quarter in 2009, with smartphone sales growing an astounding 96 per cent in the same period. The good news that 417 million handsets were sold in just three months won't be welcomed by all in the industry, with some of the firms that have been synonymous with mobile phones seeing sales declines.
Nokia, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and Motorola all suffered significant losses of market share, with Motorola seeing its share drop by over 50 per cent in just a year. Nokia's woes are well publicised and the latest figures show that the Finnish phone maker, while still out in front, has seen its share of the pie drop by over 23 per cent, though it still accounts for 28.2 per cent of all mobile phone sales.
Whereas most blame Nokia's flagging figures on its insistence to stick with theobsolescent Symbian operating system, Gartner blames shortages of camera modules and displays that it says restricted the availability of low cost devices.
Despite sales successes with smartphones such as the Galaxy S and the Wave, Samsung has also seen its share drop. The biggest loser was Sony Ericsson, not only experiencing a loss of market share but shipping fewer devices than a year ago. That's not a big surprise as the firm, although it has embraced Google'sAndroid operating system, has failed to produce any standout handsets aside from the Xperia X10, which had several faults.
The big winners are smartphone outfits, with Apple, Research in Motion (RIM) and HTC showing growth. The rise of the trio demonstrates a move towards away from feature phones. HTC shipped more than twice as many devices last quarter as during the same period in 2009 and now accounts for 1.6 per cent of total mobile phone sales, while Apple managed to almost double the number of units it flogged to fanbois, now taking 3.2 per cent of the sales pie. RIM displayed a modest increase in market share, which rose just 0.1 per cent to 2.9 per cent.
What must concern LG and RIM, which placed third and fifth in Gartner's sales charts respectively, is Gartner's claim that Apple had its sales curtailed by component shortages. The analyst firm also claims the enterprise adoption of Iphones has increased, which means that the shiny fruit themed devices are starting to encroach into RIM's bread and butter market.
Aside from mobile handset sales, when it comes to operating systems, Android has quite simply blown everything else out of the water. In the third quarter of 2010, over a quarter of all smartphones sold ran Google's open source Linux based OS. No other smartphone OS showed growth, and even Apple's IOS saw its market share drop by 0.4 per cent.
Gartner's figures reflect what is clearly visible when visiting any mobile phone shop or website. Companies and punters are looking for devices that do much more than just make calls and send text messages. Both Apple and HTC have capitalised on this, with the latter being instrumental in pushing Android out to the masses. Credit, however, must be given to Apple as it has revolutionised smartphones since it released the original Iphone.
Traditional handset makers will have a hard time turning the tide as HTC has followed Apple's lead and is now engaged in widespread marketing, meaning that the once little known firm is becoming a familiar brand in the public consciousness. Since it is actually producing decent handsets, things are looking good for the firm.
Gartner's latest figures came out too soon to measure what effect, if any, Microsoft's launch of Windows Phone 7 will have on manufacturers' sales figures. For that we'll have to wait until after Christmas when a clearer story of just how far Apple and HTC have come and Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson have fallen will become visible.
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