Nokia, Samsung plan to take on smartphone biggies

By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 11 November 2009, 15:04 IST
Printer Print Email Email
Nokia, Samsung plan to take on smartphone biggies
Helsinki: Two of the world's largest cellphone makers, Nokia and Samsung have launched their latest attempts to rival the iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones. Nokia has announced that it has started deliveries of its top-of-the-range N900, while Samsung said it would launch its own open mobile platform, bada, in December as it tries to make up for a late start in the smartphone market. Nokia and Samsung together sell about 60 percent of all cellphones globally, but have lost some ground to Apple, which makes the iPhone, and Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry. The N900 model is Nokia's first phone to run on the Linux Maemo operating system, which analysts see as key for Nokia to regain ground in the coming years, reports Reuters. "The Maemo platform, which powers the N900, reflects Nokia's need to replace its legacy software platforms with something more powerful to compete with Apple and others," said Ben Wood, Head of Research at British consultancy CCS Insight. While Nokia has lost ground in the smartphone business, it is still the world's largest smartphone maker by volume, but Samsung's volumes are well behind Apple, RIM and HTC. "Samsung's announcement of bada shows it has also identified the same requirement. The big question is, does the mobile phone market need yet another operating system," Wood said. Global sales of mobile handsets will snap a four-quarter losing streak in the past three months of the year as the industry is buoyed by economic recovery, a Reuters poll of analysts showed. "The global handset industry will be heading out of recession in the fourth quarter," said Neil Mawston, Analyst with research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics. Sales are expected to rise three percent in the fourth quarter as the Christmas period brings a brighter end to a year in which sales are forecast to fall 6.9 percent, the poll of 31 banks, brokerages and research firms showed. While the broader handset industry has struggled, sales of smartphones have boomed, and analysts predict the smartphone market will grow 20 to 30 percent this year. However, there are signs showing that increased competition is starting to put pressure on margins and put some firms on the back foot. This week the world's Number four smartphone brand HTC said it expected fourth-quarter revenue to fall almost 15 percent from the same period a year earlier, as the intense rivalry forces prices lower. Growth in the smartphone market slowed to just four percent in the third quarter, from 13 percent annual growth seen in the previous quarter, according to research firm Canalys. "Consumers in Europe and Asia seem to continue to gravitate towards low-end smartphones and feature phones equipped with touch screens," said Analyst Tero Kuittinen from research firm MKM Partners. "This is putting extra pressure on high-end smartphone pricing," Kuittinen added. High-end products are important for Nokia because the company has not only lost market share, but its average selling prices have declined faster than the industry average. Goldman Sachs has said it expects Nokia's value share - a measure reflecting average prices and underlying market share - for phones costing more than $350 to decline to 13 percent this year from 33 percent just two years earlier.

Digital Supply Chain Transformation – Winning the AI/ML Way