Hands0n
21st February 2010, 05:17 PM
An interesting article from Reuters following the Barcelona show.
Like it or not, Android has now become part of the mobile data ecosystem as did the iPhone and its OS X before it. And these two have done so like no other mobile OS that preceded either of them.
As we move along the year 2010 we can see ever-more Android devices arriving in rapid succession from key manufacturers such as HTC and Motorola. The Far East, not to be outdone, are producing Android devices and by the end of the year we could very well see a hundred or more different makes and models to choose from.
The incumbent manufacturers cannot ignore the phenomenon that is Android. To do so would be folly, especially as we read below that Android sales amounted to 9% of all smartphone sales last year. That is on the basis of only a small handful of Android devices during 2009. So with near on 100 to choose from the speculation is that 9% will reach 30%. If that actually bears out the non-Android manufacturers will have to think again seriously.
And what of Apple? Is it bothered? Should it be?
The manufacturers need to take a very serious peek at the near-future rather than the past, where they had the market to themselves. That is no longer the case
Android is mixed blessing for phone makers
Georgina Prodhan - Analysis
BARCELONA
Fri Feb 19, 2010 8:25am EST
BARCELONA (Reuters) - The mobile industry has emerged from under the shadow of Apple and its wildly popular iPhone this year, but Google's free software platform that has helped this happen will be a mixed blessing.
While Mobile World Congress has been all about iPhone clones for the past two years, this year the buzz at the wireless industry's annual fest in Barcelona is all about Android.
Android has already turned around the prospects of struggling Motorola, which had a surprise hit with its Droid phone last quarter, and has quickly become the preferred platform of loss-making Sony Ericsson.
But it has also lowered barriers to entry to the already fiercely competitive industry, furthering the ambitions of PC makers including Hewlett-Packard and Acer, also a loyal partner of rival Microsoft -- just over a year after the platform was first introduced.
Technology research firm iSuppli estimates that about 30 percent of all smart phone models introduced this year will use the Android operating system, compared with 9 percent last year.
"Android is getting a lot of traction," Henri Richard, head of sales and marketing at chipmaker Freescale, told Reuters in an interview. "It's an enabler, for sure."
Freescale is one of dozens of chipmakers, handset makers and operators who have embraced Android and helped build a thriving community around the year-old system, which supports small mobile devices like netbooks as well as smartphones.
HTC said it had had orders from a record number of operators for the Android-based Desire, while Motorola launched its eighth Android model this week.
Android is rapidly gaining ground on Nokia's Symbian and Microsoft's Windows-based phone software, and already has about 5 percent of the market.
VALUE TRANSFER
"It's both an opportunity and a threat," Scott Bibaud, head of mobile at chipmaker Broadcom, told Reuters.
Bibaud said Android was helpful in reducing the fragementation in mobile operating systems -- "I think the word 'free' has something to do with it" -- but also removed one key way in which phone makers differentiate themselves.
"A phone today is starting to look like a black rectangle," he said.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch's technology research team wrote in a recent report: "Android has turned the smartphone market into a PC-like environment. It has transferred the value from hardware manufacturing to software and applications."
Apple, by setting the bar at a level unattainable for most handset makers, has left the way wide open for Google to come in and plug the gaps.
"We have to demystify the notion that it's untouchable," Verizon Wireless Chief Marketing Officer John Stratton said of the iPhone, which is sold only by selected operators in most markets, as he launched the Droid offer.
Verizon Wireless is offering the brand-new Droid for $199 with a two-year contract. That compares with the original price of $499 or $599, depending on the model, for which AT&T sold the iPhone at its 2007 launch.
And Android-based phones capable of surfing the Web, delivering email and offering access to online widget stores will likely soon be on the market for as little as $100.
Mobile chip maker ST-Ericsson said this week the first Android phone using its new low-cost chip platform and with a wholesale price of around $100 would reach shops next month.
Rival chipmaker Marvell also announced a new cut-price chipset ahead of Mobile World Congress that it said would drive $99 smartphones into the market, supporting Android and other platforms.
HIDDEN COST
Not only does Android save phone makers money -- Microsoft charges an estimated $7 to $25 per license, although it never comments on prices -- but it vastly speeds time to market, thanks to a large and active community of developers.
In return, Google gets more and more users driven to use its email, search and other services -- and valuable information about where those users are -- that will enable it to extend its huge online advertising business to mobile phones.
Google's Chief Executive Eric Schmidt gave a keynote address in Barcelona this year, his first appearance at the fair, in which he urged carriers to embrace the Web and said mobile was becoming more and more important to Google.
Many consumer groups are worried about the loss of privacy this could entail, and fear Google already knows too much about the people who use its services.
Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer, asked at the fair whether he would consider abolishing license fees for mobile, said the company was happy with its current model, and warned there was a hidden price to pay for free software.
"My parents, like most other parents, say: 'If something is free, you should take a look and find out where the real cost is,'" he said.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE61I2X420100219
Like it or not, Android has now become part of the mobile data ecosystem as did the iPhone and its OS X before it. And these two have done so like no other mobile OS that preceded either of them.
As we move along the year 2010 we can see ever-more Android devices arriving in rapid succession from key manufacturers such as HTC and Motorola. The Far East, not to be outdone, are producing Android devices and by the end of the year we could very well see a hundred or more different makes and models to choose from.
The incumbent manufacturers cannot ignore the phenomenon that is Android. To do so would be folly, especially as we read below that Android sales amounted to 9% of all smartphone sales last year. That is on the basis of only a small handful of Android devices during 2009. So with near on 100 to choose from the speculation is that 9% will reach 30%. If that actually bears out the non-Android manufacturers will have to think again seriously.
And what of Apple? Is it bothered? Should it be?
The manufacturers need to take a very serious peek at the near-future rather than the past, where they had the market to themselves. That is no longer the case
Android is mixed blessing for phone makers
Georgina Prodhan - Analysis
BARCELONA
Fri Feb 19, 2010 8:25am EST
BARCELONA (Reuters) - The mobile industry has emerged from under the shadow of Apple and its wildly popular iPhone this year, but Google's free software platform that has helped this happen will be a mixed blessing.
While Mobile World Congress has been all about iPhone clones for the past two years, this year the buzz at the wireless industry's annual fest in Barcelona is all about Android.
Android has already turned around the prospects of struggling Motorola, which had a surprise hit with its Droid phone last quarter, and has quickly become the preferred platform of loss-making Sony Ericsson.
But it has also lowered barriers to entry to the already fiercely competitive industry, furthering the ambitions of PC makers including Hewlett-Packard and Acer, also a loyal partner of rival Microsoft -- just over a year after the platform was first introduced.
Technology research firm iSuppli estimates that about 30 percent of all smart phone models introduced this year will use the Android operating system, compared with 9 percent last year.
"Android is getting a lot of traction," Henri Richard, head of sales and marketing at chipmaker Freescale, told Reuters in an interview. "It's an enabler, for sure."
Freescale is one of dozens of chipmakers, handset makers and operators who have embraced Android and helped build a thriving community around the year-old system, which supports small mobile devices like netbooks as well as smartphones.
HTC said it had had orders from a record number of operators for the Android-based Desire, while Motorola launched its eighth Android model this week.
Android is rapidly gaining ground on Nokia's Symbian and Microsoft's Windows-based phone software, and already has about 5 percent of the market.
VALUE TRANSFER
"It's both an opportunity and a threat," Scott Bibaud, head of mobile at chipmaker Broadcom, told Reuters.
Bibaud said Android was helpful in reducing the fragementation in mobile operating systems -- "I think the word 'free' has something to do with it" -- but also removed one key way in which phone makers differentiate themselves.
"A phone today is starting to look like a black rectangle," he said.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch's technology research team wrote in a recent report: "Android has turned the smartphone market into a PC-like environment. It has transferred the value from hardware manufacturing to software and applications."
Apple, by setting the bar at a level unattainable for most handset makers, has left the way wide open for Google to come in and plug the gaps.
"We have to demystify the notion that it's untouchable," Verizon Wireless Chief Marketing Officer John Stratton said of the iPhone, which is sold only by selected operators in most markets, as he launched the Droid offer.
Verizon Wireless is offering the brand-new Droid for $199 with a two-year contract. That compares with the original price of $499 or $599, depending on the model, for which AT&T sold the iPhone at its 2007 launch.
And Android-based phones capable of surfing the Web, delivering email and offering access to online widget stores will likely soon be on the market for as little as $100.
Mobile chip maker ST-Ericsson said this week the first Android phone using its new low-cost chip platform and with a wholesale price of around $100 would reach shops next month.
Rival chipmaker Marvell also announced a new cut-price chipset ahead of Mobile World Congress that it said would drive $99 smartphones into the market, supporting Android and other platforms.
HIDDEN COST
Not only does Android save phone makers money -- Microsoft charges an estimated $7 to $25 per license, although it never comments on prices -- but it vastly speeds time to market, thanks to a large and active community of developers.
In return, Google gets more and more users driven to use its email, search and other services -- and valuable information about where those users are -- that will enable it to extend its huge online advertising business to mobile phones.
Google's Chief Executive Eric Schmidt gave a keynote address in Barcelona this year, his first appearance at the fair, in which he urged carriers to embrace the Web and said mobile was becoming more and more important to Google.
Many consumer groups are worried about the loss of privacy this could entail, and fear Google already knows too much about the people who use its services.
Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer, asked at the fair whether he would consider abolishing license fees for mobile, said the company was happy with its current model, and warned there was a hidden price to pay for free software.
"My parents, like most other parents, say: 'If something is free, you should take a look and find out where the real cost is,'" he said.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE61I2X420100219