Google and Apple embroiled in fight for “undecideds”
September 1, 2011 at 5:57 am
Like politics, smartphone wars come down to two major parties – Google and Apple – embroiled in a never-ending fight for consumers, especially those who have not made up their mind as to which operating system they’d like in their next smartphone. According to July 2011 data from Nielsen survey, “these ‘undecideds’ will be the ones device makers will be hoping to win over”. Interestingly, the Late Adopters among likely smartphone upgraders are the ones most likely to be undecided about their next phone platform.
The research firm discovered that forty percent Americans aged 18+ now have smartphones. Android leads the pack with a forty percent OS platform share and iOS came in second with 28 percent. Compared to Nielsen’s June 2011 study, Android grew its share by one percentage point while iOS growth fell flat. The BlackBerry platform lost one percentage share and now stands at nineteen percent.
Of those buying a new smartphone next year, one third would opt for an iPhone and another third would go Android. This leaves other manufacturers outside the Android-iOS duopoly to fight for the remaining 33 percent of buyers.
Moreover, the smartphone is clearly on the rise…
Four out of ten Americans now wield smartphones, Nieslen says. Smartphones will continue eating into feature phones and dump phones until eventually all phones become smartphones, as predicted by Asymco’s Horace Dediu:
I don’t see non-smart devices being interesting to vendors in the near term. Each additional dumb phone added to a portfolio will decrease a company’s operating margin. The market dynamics are such that I think non-smart phones will disappear entirely from branded portfolios in 3 to 5 years.
Revenues for microelectromechanical systems in consumer electronics and mobile communications devices will grow 37 percent this year due to the rising popularity of tablets and smartphones, per this Consumer & Mobile MEMS Market Tracker report from IHS iSuppli. They also estimated that by 2015 sales of smartphones will beat dumb phones, which today account for more than two-thirds of all mobile phone sales. For more politics in smartphones, check out an amusing U.S. map telling whether you are an Android or an iOS state.
Cross-posted on 9to5Google.com
New Technology in Television
August 26, 2011 at 5:08 am
From 9to5mac.com
The Wall Street Journal makes a brief mention of a mysterious new video delivery technology Apple is allegedly working on:
Apple is working on new technology to deliver video to televisions, and has been discussing whether to try to launch a subscription TV service, according to people familiar with the matter.
Authors Yukari Iwatani Kane and Jessica Vascellaro did not elaborate further, beyond alluding it could be related to a subscription-based television programming that might be bulked through iTunes, akin to cable deals. Another report earlier this month asserted Apple is in fact developing iTunes Replay, “a full-fledged re-downloading and possibly streaming service”. Apple earlier this year enabled iTunes users to redownload purchased apps, e-books, music and other content free of charge, on an unlimited basis. Most recently the company added television shows to the mix, effectively creating a cloud-based locker for Hollywood entertainment.
While the prospect of the so-called Apple television remains sketchy, Apple recently made moves that could be viewed as preparing such a branded, networked television set with the Apple TV functionality built-in.
The company has apparently been sampling 55-inch OLED displays from LG Display, a rumor LG itself later debunked while noting that “it’s true that Apple has keen interest in TV”. Apple’s been maintaining thus far that its Apple TV set-top box is but a hobby business and Steve Jobs argued that it’s difficult to innovate in that space because the market is balkanized. Rivals are not doing well either: Logitech was forced to drop its Revue box down to $99 from $249 due to poor sales.