Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apple. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Top 20 Technology Driven Trends for 2012
No matter what industry you’re in, your company can’t survive without technology. And these days, even non-technical employees know that technology goes way beyond desktop computers and networks. From smart phones and tablet computers to mobile apps and cloud-based technology, there’s a plethora of technological advancements to not only keep track of, but also to profit from.Therefore, as a CIO, it’s up to you to anticipate the future technology trends that are shaping your business and then develop innovative ways to implement them in your organization.
Now that 2012 is well underway, be ready for the following 20 technology-driven trends to continue to create both disruption and opportunity in the business world. But rather than just react to them, be "pre-active" to future known events and plan how you’ll profit from them now. That’s the only way you’ll gain competitive advantage and become viewed as both a strategy creator and enabler within your company.
So here are the Top 20 tech trends I think you should be aware of this year:
1) Rapid growth of Big Data, a term used to describe the technologies and techniques used to capture and utilize the exponentially increasing streams of data with the goal of bringing enterprise-wide visibility and insights to make rapid critical decisions, will usher in high speed analytics (HSA). Using advanced cloud services, HSA will increasingly be used as a complement to existing information management systems and programs to tame the massive data explosion. This new level of data integration and analytics will require many new skills and cross-functional buy-in in order to break down the many data and organizational silos that still exist. The rapid increase in data makes this a fast growing hard trend that cannot be ignored.
2) Cloud computing and advanced cloud services will be increasingly embraced by business of all sizes, as this represents a major shift in how organizations obtain and maintain software, hardware, and computing capacity. As consumers, we first experienced public clouds (think about when you first used Google or Apple’s MobileMe and now iCloud). Then we saw more private clouds and hybrid clouds from businesses such as Flextronics, Siemens, Accenture, and many others, all using the cloud to cut costs in human resources and sales management functions. This was only the beginning, as cloud services enable the rapid transformation all business processes.
3) On Demand Services will increasingly be offered to companies needing to rapidly deploy new services. Hardware as a service (HaaS) joins Software as a Service (SaaS), creating what some have called “IT as a service” (ITaaS). All will grow rapidly with many new players in a multitude of business process categories. These services will help companies cut costs as they provide access to powerful software programs and the latest technology without having the expense of a large IT staff and time-consuming, expensive upgrades. As a result, IT will be increasingly freed to focus on enabling business process transformation, which will allow organizations to maximize their return on technology investments.
4) Virtualization of storage, desktops, applications, and networking will see continued acceptance and growth by both large and small businesses as virtualization security improves. We will continue to see the virtualization of processing power, allowing mobile devices to access supercomputer capabilities and apply it to processes such as purchasing and logistics, to name a few.
5) Consumerization of IT increases as the source for innovation and technology continues to be driven by the consumer thanks to rapid advances in processing power, storage, and bandwidth. Smart companies have recognized that this is a hard tend that will continue and have stopped fighting consumerization. Instead, they are turning this trend into a competitive advantage by consumerizing their applications, such as recommending safe and secure third party hardware and apps. Encouraging employees to share productivity enhancing consumer technology will become a wise strategy.
6) Gameification of training and education will fuel a fast moving hard trend using advanced simulations and skill-based learning systems that are self-diagnostic, interactive, game-like, and competitive -- all focused on giving the user an immersive experience thanks to a photo-realistic 3D interface. Some will develop software using these gaming techniques to work on existing hardware systems such as the Xbox and PlayStation. A social component of gameification that includes sharing will drive success.
7) Social business takes on a new level of urgency as organizations shift from an Information Age “informing” model to a Communication Age “communicating and engaging” model. Social software for business will reach a new level of adoption with applications to enhance relationships, collaboration, networking, social validation, and more. Social search will increasingly be used by marketers and researchers, not to mention Wall Street, to tap into millions of daily tweets and Facebook conversations, providing real-time analysis of many key consumer metrics.
8) Smartphones and tablets will become our primary personal computers, and the mobile Web will become a must-have capability. This means an enterprise mobility strategy will become mandatory for all size organizations as we see mobile data, mobile media, mobile sales, mobile marketing, mobile commerce, mobile finance, mobile payments, mobile health, and many more explode. The vast majority of mobile phones sold globally will have a browser, making the smart phone our primary computer that is with us 24/7 and signaling a profound shift in global computing. This new level of mobility will allow any size business to transform how they market, sell, communicate, collaborate, educate, train, and innovate using mobility.
9) Tablet computers with enterprise level Web apps will be used to transform sales and service support and then move to purchasing, logistics, just-in-time training, and much more.
10) Intelligent electronic agents using natural language voice commands take off with Apple’s Siri, rapidly followed by Android, Microsoft, and others all offering what will become a mobile electronic concierge on your smart devices including your phone, tablet, and television. Soon retailers will have a Siri-like sales assistant, and maintenance workers will have a Siri-like assistant. The possibilities are endless.
11) Digital identity management will become increasingly important to both organizations and individuals as new software allows users to better manage their multiple identities across business and personal networks. Next generation biometrics will play a key role in both identity management and security.
12) Visual communications takes video conferencing to a new level with programs like SKYPE, Apple's FaceTime, and others giving us video communication on phones, tablets, and home televisions. Visual communications will be integrated with current video conferencing systems, fueling this as a main relationship-building tool for businesses of all sizes.
13) Enhanced location awareness will accelerate the number of business-to-consumer apps for smart phones and tablets that will take geo-social marketing and sales to a new level of creative application, driving rapid growth.
14) Geo-spatial visualization combines geographic information systems (GIS) with location-aware data, radio frequency identification (RFID), and other location-aware sensors (including the current location of users from the use of their mobile devices) to create new insights and competitive advantage. Early applications include logistics and supply chain to name a few.
15) Smart TV using apps will get a major boost in the marketplace, fueling a major shift in home viewing. Ever wonder how you could have over 500 cable or satellite channels and nothing to watch? You didn’t have apps on your TV allowing you to personalize the experience. This is the beginning of a major shift that will take place in living rooms globally. Look for Apple to introduce the iTV, basically a living room sized iPad.
16) Multiple app stores for all smart phone, tablet, and television operating systems (Android, Blackberry, Windows, and others) will take off, creating an abundant distribution and sales ecosystem for all. This will cement the revolution versus evolution that apps software represents. We will see business app stores for the enterprise starting this year.
17) 3D displays for smartphones and tablets will be the breakthrough that will drive wide-scale consumer acceptance of 3D computing. 3D computing for the enterprise will grow rapidly for military, medicine, fashion, architecture, and entertainment applications.
18) eBooks, eNewspapers, and eMagazines pass the tipping point due to the abundance of smartphones with readable displays, tablets that provide a full color experience, and publishers providing apps that give a better than paper experience by including cut, copy, paste, print, and multimedia capabilities. In addition, eBook readers will have high quality with a low enough price to bring in the masses.
9) Interactive multimedia eTextbooks will finally take off thanks to Apple’s iBook Author and other competing tools, freeing new publishers to create compelling and engaging content, and freeing students from a static, expensive, and literally heavy experience.
20) Wireless machine-to-machine applications such as two-way meter reading, surveillance, vending machine, and point-of-sale solutions take off thanks to faster wireless data networks.
Are these the only technology-driven trends for 2012 to be aware of? Of course not. As any CIO knows, technology is always evolving, resulting in new trends emerging and new products appearing every day. That’s why one of your key functions is to stay ahead of the trends by anticipating them, adapting them to your unique environment before the competition does, and ultimately enabling your organization to profit from them. The more you’re able to do that, the sooner you’ll be able to take your organization to the next level of success.
Daniel Burrus is considered one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and business strategists, and is the founder and CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology driven trends to help clients better understand how technological, social and business forces are converging to create enormous, untapped opportunities. He is the author of six books, including the national bestseller "Flash Foresight: How To See the Invisible and Do the Impossible" as well as the highly acclaimed Technotrends. Be sure to check out Volume 2 of Daniel's "Know What's Next Magazine," an annual publication on strategies for transforming your business and future.
Source:http://www.cioupdate.com/technology-trends/the-top-20-technology-driven-trends-for-2012.html
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Trends:Facebook’s Mobility Challenge
Facebook’s Mobility Challenge
By JENNA WORTHAM
Published: February 5, 2012
NEW YORK TIMES
Amid the jaw-dropping financial figures the company revealed last week when it filed for a public offering was an interesting admission. Although more than half of its 845 million members log into Facebook on a mobile device, the company has not yet found a way to make real money from that use.
“We do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven,” the company said in its review of the risks it faces.
In a world that is rapidly moving toward an era of mobile computing, this is a troubling issue for Silicon Valley’s brightest star — particularly since much of Facebook’s growth right now is in countries like Chile, Turkey, Venezuela and Brazil, where people largely have access to the Internet using cellphones.
Enlarge This ImageLots of people love their cellphones. Facebook, so far, is not a big fan.
Kim White/Getty Images
Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook plan to experiment with mobile advertising, including inserting so-called sponsored stories into users' update streams.
Facebook is not the only company struggling to translate the success of its Web site to mobile devices, where screen space is at a premium and people have little patience for clutter or slow loading times. It is a problem that plagues companies as diverse as news publishers and the streaming radio service Pandora, and it is likely to loom larger. There were more global shipments of smartphones than of personal computers in 2011, according to a recent report from Canalys, a research firm.
But the issue seems particularly urgent in the case of Facebook, which is wildly popular among its users and is seen as a company of the future, a hybrid of social hub and information conduit, platform and publisher. In other words, if Facebook cannot figure it out, who can?
“It’s a huge Achilles’ heel for them,” said Susan Etlinger, a consultant at the Altimeter Group who advises companies on how to use technology. “There’s clearly a movement toward more social media consumption on mobile devices, and Facebook doesn’t have a revenue strategy for that shift. They haven’t figured it out yet.”
Facebook declined to comment in advance of its offering, but the company outlined its concerns in the filing, stating that it expected its mobile users to “exceed the growth rate of our overall monthly active users for the foreseeable future.” And if executives are not able to chart a path to profitability on mobile platforms, the filing indicated, the company’s “revenue and financial results may be negatively affected.”
At stake, experts say, is a large chunk of advertising revenue. Facebook brings in most of its revenue by selling space on its Web site to advertisers who want to reach its users. Overall spending on mobile advertising in the United States is expected to reach $2.6 billion this year, up 80 percent from $1.45 billion in 2011, according to research by eMarketer. But that will still be just a sliver of what is likely to be a $39.5 billion online advertising market.
Google, a Facebook competitor on the Web, was the biggest player in the mobile ad market last year with about $750 million in revenue, and Apple came in second with more than $90 million, eMarketer says.
“It’s still immature when compared to online, print and TV advertising,” said Noah Elkin, an analyst with eMarketer. “But it’s growing at a faster pace, even though its revenues are still dwarfed by the other formats.”
One big problem with mobile ads is that users are less receptive to intrusive advertisements when they are focused on a goal like quickly posting a status update or finding an address. People using the Web on a computer tend to click on online ads up to eight times as often as those on mobile devices, Mr. Elkin said.
“We’ve had ads on our desktops for 15 years and we’re used to them,” he said. “But on the smaller smartphone screen, they’re distracting and viewers tend to notice them more even though there are usually fewer ads.”
It is still relatively early in the evolution of mobile marketing, of course, and it is possible Facebook is deliberately holding back in this area. Analysts say the company may be focusing on building traffic to its mobile Web site and applications first — much as it originally kept its regular Web site free of ads to avoid alienating new users.
Bay Ismoyo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
By JENNA WORTHAM
Published: February 5, 2012
NEW YORK TIMES
Amid the jaw-dropping financial figures the company revealed last week when it filed for a public offering was an interesting admission. Although more than half of its 845 million members log into Facebook on a mobile device, the company has not yet found a way to make real money from that use.
“We do not currently directly generate any meaningful revenue from the use of Facebook mobile products, and our ability to do so successfully is unproven,” the company said in its review of the risks it faces.
In a world that is rapidly moving toward an era of mobile computing, this is a troubling issue for Silicon Valley’s brightest star — particularly since much of Facebook’s growth right now is in countries like Chile, Turkey, Venezuela and Brazil, where people largely have access to the Internet using cellphones.
Enlarge This ImageLots of people love their cellphones. Facebook, so far, is not a big fan.
Kim White/Getty Images
Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook plan to experiment with mobile advertising, including inserting so-called sponsored stories into users' update streams.
Facebook is not the only company struggling to translate the success of its Web site to mobile devices, where screen space is at a premium and people have little patience for clutter or slow loading times. It is a problem that plagues companies as diverse as news publishers and the streaming radio service Pandora, and it is likely to loom larger. There were more global shipments of smartphones than of personal computers in 2011, according to a recent report from Canalys, a research firm.
But the issue seems particularly urgent in the case of Facebook, which is wildly popular among its users and is seen as a company of the future, a hybrid of social hub and information conduit, platform and publisher. In other words, if Facebook cannot figure it out, who can?
“It’s a huge Achilles’ heel for them,” said Susan Etlinger, a consultant at the Altimeter Group who advises companies on how to use technology. “There’s clearly a movement toward more social media consumption on mobile devices, and Facebook doesn’t have a revenue strategy for that shift. They haven’t figured it out yet.”
Facebook declined to comment in advance of its offering, but the company outlined its concerns in the filing, stating that it expected its mobile users to “exceed the growth rate of our overall monthly active users for the foreseeable future.” And if executives are not able to chart a path to profitability on mobile platforms, the filing indicated, the company’s “revenue and financial results may be negatively affected.”
At stake, experts say, is a large chunk of advertising revenue. Facebook brings in most of its revenue by selling space on its Web site to advertisers who want to reach its users. Overall spending on mobile advertising in the United States is expected to reach $2.6 billion this year, up 80 percent from $1.45 billion in 2011, according to research by eMarketer. But that will still be just a sliver of what is likely to be a $39.5 billion online advertising market.
Google, a Facebook competitor on the Web, was the biggest player in the mobile ad market last year with about $750 million in revenue, and Apple came in second with more than $90 million, eMarketer says.
“It’s still immature when compared to online, print and TV advertising,” said Noah Elkin, an analyst with eMarketer. “But it’s growing at a faster pace, even though its revenues are still dwarfed by the other formats.”
One big problem with mobile ads is that users are less receptive to intrusive advertisements when they are focused on a goal like quickly posting a status update or finding an address. People using the Web on a computer tend to click on online ads up to eight times as often as those on mobile devices, Mr. Elkin said.
“We’ve had ads on our desktops for 15 years and we’re used to them,” he said. “But on the smaller smartphone screen, they’re distracting and viewers tend to notice them more even though there are usually fewer ads.”
It is still relatively early in the evolution of mobile marketing, of course, and it is possible Facebook is deliberately holding back in this area. Analysts say the company may be focusing on building traffic to its mobile Web site and applications first — much as it originally kept its regular Web site free of ads to avoid alienating new users.
Bay Ismoyo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Overall spending on mobile advertising in the United States is expected to reach $2.6 billion this year, up 80 percent from $1.45 billion in 2011, according to research by eMarketer
But Facebook may also be sitting on an untapped reservoir of advertising revenue, experts say. Its mobile ads could be highly lucrative should the company start showing users advertisements or coupons pegged to the places they visit and the businesses they frequent.
Facebook has begun to creep into that territory with Places, a service that allows users to “check in” and share their whereabouts with friends. That, and other location services, could eventually lay the groundwork for attracting local and small-business advertisers.
“Even though Facebook’s browser advertising is already very targeted compared to other services, mobile advertising could be even more so, because it could take location into account as well," said Jan Dawson, the chief telecommunications analyst at the research firm Ovum.
After ads, Facebook’s second-biggest source of revenue is payments from partners like Zynga that have games and other apps running on its site. When those app makers sell things like virtual goods through Facebook’s payment system, Facebook takes a cut — and in the case of Zynga, that cut generated 12 percent of Facebook’s revenue last year. But on iPhones and iPads, Facebook has to contend with Apple, which takes its own share of app makers’ revenue from such sales.
If Facebook were to bring Zynga’s games to its iPhone and iPad apps, for example, it would have to share that revenue with Apple, which requires app makers to hand over 30 percent of their proceeds.
Google puts no such restrictions on apps for devices running its Android software, but given the increasing rivalry between Facebook and Google in social networking, Facebook is not in full control of its destiny there either.
“The question is about who will be in the driver’s seat,” said Sandeep Dahiya, an associate professor of finance at Georgetown University who specializes in corporate finance and public offerings. “Can Facebook monetize applications and game play on top of Apple and Google?”
Given how crucial mobile activity is for Facebook’s future, it came as a surprise to many that the company seemed to drag its feet in releasing an application for the iPad, as it finally did in October. Some criticize the company’s iPhone app for being sluggish and plagued with bugs.
That has led some to question whether Facebook has deliberately let its mobile applications languish while it settles on a broader strategy. If users come to Facebook through a mobile Web browser rather than through an app, the company can avoid the Apple toll booth.
“It’s the art of war,” said Shervin Pishevar, a serial entrepreneur who now advises and invests in social start-ups at Menlo Partners, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. “If the app is making users insane, they are just going to go to the browser version of the site. Which is a big win for Facebook because it gives them an advantage over Apple.”
Steering users to mobile-friendly Web pages also lets Facebook avoid making an app for every type of phone, said Joe Hewitt, who created the first iPhone app for Facebook and left the company last year.
“It’s always to Facebook’s advantage to have the Web be their operating system and leverage that to their advantage,” he said. “You can develop on the Web and reuse as much of the code as you can.”
In its filing, Facebook did say it planned to explore and experiment with mobile advertising, including inserting so-called sponsored stories into the stream of updates. These are messages involving a user’s friends that an advertiser can choose to highlight and amplify — as in “Bob Smith likes Gatorade.”
Facebook is also setting up an event later this month for Facebook advertisers, the first of its kind, which is to feature presentations from several top executives including Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer.
Mr. Hewitt said he thought it was inevitable that Facebook would eventually flip a switch and incorporate advertisements into its mobile apps. “They’ll just have to find a way that won’t turn users off too much,” he said.
Brian X. Chen contributed reporting.
A version of this article appeared in print on February 6, 2012, on pageB1 of the New York edition with the headline: The Mobile Ad Challenge.
But Facebook may also be sitting on an untapped reservoir of advertising revenue, experts say. Its mobile ads could be highly lucrative should the company start showing users advertisements or coupons pegged to the places they visit and the businesses they frequent.
Facebook has begun to creep into that territory with Places, a service that allows users to “check in” and share their whereabouts with friends. That, and other location services, could eventually lay the groundwork for attracting local and small-business advertisers.
“Even though Facebook’s browser advertising is already very targeted compared to other services, mobile advertising could be even more so, because it could take location into account as well," said Jan Dawson, the chief telecommunications analyst at the research firm Ovum.
After ads, Facebook’s second-biggest source of revenue is payments from partners like Zynga that have games and other apps running on its site. When those app makers sell things like virtual goods through Facebook’s payment system, Facebook takes a cut — and in the case of Zynga, that cut generated 12 percent of Facebook’s revenue last year. But on iPhones and iPads, Facebook has to contend with Apple, which takes its own share of app makers’ revenue from such sales.
If Facebook were to bring Zynga’s games to its iPhone and iPad apps, for example, it would have to share that revenue with Apple, which requires app makers to hand over 30 percent of their proceeds.
Google puts no such restrictions on apps for devices running its Android software, but given the increasing rivalry between Facebook and Google in social networking, Facebook is not in full control of its destiny there either.
“The question is about who will be in the driver’s seat,” said Sandeep Dahiya, an associate professor of finance at Georgetown University who specializes in corporate finance and public offerings. “Can Facebook monetize applications and game play on top of Apple and Google?”
Given how crucial mobile activity is for Facebook’s future, it came as a surprise to many that the company seemed to drag its feet in releasing an application for the iPad, as it finally did in October. Some criticize the company’s iPhone app for being sluggish and plagued with bugs.
That has led some to question whether Facebook has deliberately let its mobile applications languish while it settles on a broader strategy. If users come to Facebook through a mobile Web browser rather than through an app, the company can avoid the Apple toll booth.
“It’s the art of war,” said Shervin Pishevar, a serial entrepreneur who now advises and invests in social start-ups at Menlo Partners, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. “If the app is making users insane, they are just going to go to the browser version of the site. Which is a big win for Facebook because it gives them an advantage over Apple.”
Steering users to mobile-friendly Web pages also lets Facebook avoid making an app for every type of phone, said Joe Hewitt, who created the first iPhone app for Facebook and left the company last year.
“It’s always to Facebook’s advantage to have the Web be their operating system and leverage that to their advantage,” he said. “You can develop on the Web and reuse as much of the code as you can.”
In its filing, Facebook did say it planned to explore and experiment with mobile advertising, including inserting so-called sponsored stories into the stream of updates. These are messages involving a user’s friends that an advertiser can choose to highlight and amplify — as in “Bob Smith likes Gatorade.”
Facebook is also setting up an event later this month for Facebook advertisers, the first of its kind, which is to feature presentations from several top executives including Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer.
Mr. Hewitt said he thought it was inevitable that Facebook would eventually flip a switch and incorporate advertisements into its mobile apps. “They’ll just have to find a way that won’t turn users off too much,” he said.
Brian X. Chen contributed reporting.
A version of this article appeared in print on February 6, 2012, on pageB1 of the New York edition with the headline: The Mobile Ad Challenge.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
'Samsung Pushes Apple Out of Top Smart Phone Slot' - OR: Sing the Song of Samsung Baking Apples Pie
By David Nagel
11/07/11
Samsung moved to the top position among smart phone manufacturers worldwide in the third quarter, bumping Apple, Nokia, and Research in Motion out of the way in the process.
According to new data published by market research firm IDC, Samsung's smart phone shipments increased 223.3 percent from Q3 2010, rising to 23.6 million units and accounting for 20 percent of the overall market. At this time last year, the company commanded only 8.8 percent of the market on shipments of 7.3 million units.
Samsung's rise in the smart phone market was driven by sales of its Android- and bada-based devices, according to IDC.
"Samsung's ascendancy to the leadership position is the direct result of its broad and deep product portfolio," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends group, in a statement released Monday. "Ever since the first Galaxy device launched last year, the company has aggressively expanded and refreshed its selection to include the latest innovations and most popular features. At the same time, its line-up of bada-branded smart phones has earned a welcome reception within key markets."
However, Llamas noted, Samsung's leadership position "will be a challenge to maintain, both in the fourth quarter and beyond. Apple's fourth quarter launch of the iPhone 4S and lower pricing of older models will certainly boost volumes, and Nokia's recent launch of Windows Phone smart phones marks the beginning of a new era for the company. While these point to larger volumes in the quarters to come, they will also lead to increased competition."
Q3 was the first quarter in which Samsung had ever surpassed the 20 million smart phone unit sales mark, according to IDC.
Meanwhile, Apple, while losing a small market share percentage, actually increased unit shipments 21.3 percent in the quarter. The iPhone maker shipped 17.1 million units worldwide during the quarter compared with 14.1 million in Q3 2010. Its market share was 14.5 percent in Q3 2011 versus 17 percent in Q3 2010.
"Apple, after taking the No. 1 spot last quarter from Nokia, slipped to the No. 2 spot worldwide," IDC reported. "But even after relying on the iPhone 4 for five quarters and the iPhone 3G S for nine, demand for the iPhone remained strong enough for Apple to realize double-digit growth year over year. Now that Apple has launched its iPhone 4S and re-priced its older models in multiple countries, Apple stands poised to challenge Samsung for the leadership position."
No. 3 Nokia continued to tumble during the quarter, shedding nearly 10 million units in worldwide sales and dropping to a market share of 14.2 percent compared with a share of 32 percent in the same quarter last year. Its units sales of 16.8 million, however, were still enough to keep it on Apple's heels.
High-end Android phone maker HTC, like Samsung, saw a triple-digit percentage increase in unit shipments worldwide. The company has sold only 5.9 million units in Q3 2010 but increased that figure 115.3 percent to 12.7 million units in Q3 2011, winding up in the No. 4 slot with a 10.8 percent market share.
"HTC moved up one spot and maintained its upward momentum during 3Q11," IDC reported. "During the quarter, HTC acquired several companies to complement its devices, including Dashwire for cloud-based sync, Zoodles for kid-oriented applications, and a stake in audio company Beats." The company also launched an entry-level Android phone during the quarter, as well as phone targeting specific demographics.
Like Nokia, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion declined in the third quarter of 2010, moving to the No. 5 slot overall. Total shipments for the quarter were off 4.8 percent compared with Q3 2010, from 12.4 million units to 11.8 million. Market share for the three-month period declined from 15 percent in 2010 to an even 10 percent in 2011.
All other smart phone vendors accounted for 36.1 million units, up from 16.6 million in the same quarter last year, accounting for the remaining 30.6 percent of the market. Total worldwide smart phone shipments for the quarter were 118.1 million, up 42.6 percent from 82.8 million units in the same quarter in 2010.
"Vendors will struggle to maintain leadership of the global smart phone market this year given its continued high growth, which opportunities for multiple companies to grow," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, also in a prepared statement. "Competitors will release smart phones with components, such as 3D displays, dual-core processors, and enhanced audio capabilities, that will help them drive higher shipment volumes and potentially leapfrog competitors."
Source: http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/11/07/samsung-pushes-apple-out-of-top-smart-phone-slot.aspx
11/07/11
Samsung moved to the top position among smart phone manufacturers worldwide in the third quarter, bumping Apple, Nokia, and Research in Motion out of the way in the process.
According to new data published by market research firm IDC, Samsung's smart phone shipments increased 223.3 percent from Q3 2010, rising to 23.6 million units and accounting for 20 percent of the overall market. At this time last year, the company commanded only 8.8 percent of the market on shipments of 7.3 million units.
Samsung's rise in the smart phone market was driven by sales of its Android- and bada-based devices, according to IDC.
"Samsung's ascendancy to the leadership position is the direct result of its broad and deep product portfolio," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends group, in a statement released Monday. "Ever since the first Galaxy device launched last year, the company has aggressively expanded and refreshed its selection to include the latest innovations and most popular features. At the same time, its line-up of bada-branded smart phones has earned a welcome reception within key markets."
However, Llamas noted, Samsung's leadership position "will be a challenge to maintain, both in the fourth quarter and beyond. Apple's fourth quarter launch of the iPhone 4S and lower pricing of older models will certainly boost volumes, and Nokia's recent launch of Windows Phone smart phones marks the beginning of a new era for the company. While these point to larger volumes in the quarters to come, they will also lead to increased competition."
Q3 was the first quarter in which Samsung had ever surpassed the 20 million smart phone unit sales mark, according to IDC.
Meanwhile, Apple, while losing a small market share percentage, actually increased unit shipments 21.3 percent in the quarter. The iPhone maker shipped 17.1 million units worldwide during the quarter compared with 14.1 million in Q3 2010. Its market share was 14.5 percent in Q3 2011 versus 17 percent in Q3 2010.
"Apple, after taking the No. 1 spot last quarter from Nokia, slipped to the No. 2 spot worldwide," IDC reported. "But even after relying on the iPhone 4 for five quarters and the iPhone 3G S for nine, demand for the iPhone remained strong enough for Apple to realize double-digit growth year over year. Now that Apple has launched its iPhone 4S and re-priced its older models in multiple countries, Apple stands poised to challenge Samsung for the leadership position."
No. 3 Nokia continued to tumble during the quarter, shedding nearly 10 million units in worldwide sales and dropping to a market share of 14.2 percent compared with a share of 32 percent in the same quarter last year. Its units sales of 16.8 million, however, were still enough to keep it on Apple's heels.
High-end Android phone maker HTC, like Samsung, saw a triple-digit percentage increase in unit shipments worldwide. The company has sold only 5.9 million units in Q3 2010 but increased that figure 115.3 percent to 12.7 million units in Q3 2011, winding up in the No. 4 slot with a 10.8 percent market share.
"HTC moved up one spot and maintained its upward momentum during 3Q11," IDC reported. "During the quarter, HTC acquired several companies to complement its devices, including Dashwire for cloud-based sync, Zoodles for kid-oriented applications, and a stake in audio company Beats." The company also launched an entry-level Android phone during the quarter, as well as phone targeting specific demographics.
Like Nokia, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion declined in the third quarter of 2010, moving to the No. 5 slot overall. Total shipments for the quarter were off 4.8 percent compared with Q3 2010, from 12.4 million units to 11.8 million. Market share for the three-month period declined from 15 percent in 2010 to an even 10 percent in 2011.
All other smart phone vendors accounted for 36.1 million units, up from 16.6 million in the same quarter last year, accounting for the remaining 30.6 percent of the market. Total worldwide smart phone shipments for the quarter were 118.1 million, up 42.6 percent from 82.8 million units in the same quarter in 2010.
"Vendors will struggle to maintain leadership of the global smart phone market this year given its continued high growth, which opportunities for multiple companies to grow," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, also in a prepared statement. "Competitors will release smart phones with components, such as 3D displays, dual-core processors, and enhanced audio capabilities, that will help them drive higher shipment volumes and potentially leapfrog competitors."
Source: http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/11/07/samsung-pushes-apple-out-of-top-smart-phone-slot.aspx
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