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View Full Version : Smartphone War Heats Up


Mike Temporale
10-06-2004, 01:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.forbes.com/execpicks/feeds/wireless/2004/10/05/wirelesscahners_2004_10_04_eng-cahners_eng-cahners_092804_7857843661178915383.html' target='_blank'>http://www.forbes.com/execpicks/feeds/wireless/2004/10/05/wirelesscahners_2004_10_04_eng-cahners_eng-cahners_092804_7857843661178915383.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Even as smartphones become more common, the jury is still out on which smartphone OS ultimately will dominate. The Symbian OS, owned by seven companies, has been the dominant platform, but Microsoft and PalmSource have made inroads in recent months. Some analysts have revised their estimates for the smartphone market due to recent launches and the impact of handsets running the Microsoft Window Mobile and PalmSource OS."</i><br /><br />Forbes is taking a look at the current and future of the smartphone market. Overall, I agree with the article. I would say that this is a really good summary of where we are, where we're going, and what has to happen before we can get there. However, I can't agree with this one comment: <i>"Cook says Palm smartphones will continue to beat Microsoft devices on price, and he says Symbian's lead is primarily due to Nokia's use of it on its handsets. Most subscribers with Symbian phones don't use the operating system, he contends."</i> Now, I'm not a Symbian fan, but I think this statement is a gross exaggeration. Anyway, check out the article and let us know what you think.

yslee
10-06-2004, 05:13 PM
On the statement which has been singled out:
Well, there's the darn problem of the definition of a smartphone. Is the Treo 600 a smartphone or a PDA phone? If so, it's kinda unfair to compare it to something like the MPx200, don't you think?

And if you do, then the line about Palm beating MS in price will be very wrong already (MS Smartphones are cheaper).

On symbian, I agree. Most people buy them not because of the OS, but because of the brand. Nokia is for dummies. :lol:

yslee
10-06-2004, 05:19 PM
He cites the Motorola E398 phone recently launched by T-Mobile in Germany called the SDA Music Phone,

errrrrrr, last I checked, the E398 is a Motorola phone that has nothing to do with MS!

Mike Temporale
10-06-2004, 05:24 PM
Well, there's the darn problem of the definition of a smartphone. Is the Treo 600 a smartphone or a PDA phone?

We tend to treat anything with a touch screen as a PDA first and a phone second.

On symbian, I agree. Most people buy them not because of the OS, but because of the brand. Nokia is for dummies.

I agree that people buy Nokia for the name and not the OS, but Symbian is used in more than just Nokia. I think people buying the other Symbian devices are looking for more than a name.

TANKERx
10-06-2004, 07:14 PM
I think that the fact that Nokia uses Symbian Smartphones plays a highly significant part in Symbian's outstripping of the opposition in terms of sales (the quality speaks for itself).

Without Nokia, there would be far fewer Symbian Smartphones out there, but that's fair enough - if Nokia had adopted Windows Mobile :lol: then Windows Mobile would be on just about every Smartphone in use right now.

However, saying that people buy Nokia for the name may well find they are quite right. The important fact that Microsoft has to address is why Nokia has a good name.

Nokia isn't synonymous with Mobile Communications because it forced the market to its knees in submission now did it? With other very big and very competent contenders, Nokia got itself a good name through good products. What does the common man think of when he hears 'Microsoft' and how does that compare with what he thinks when he hears 'Nokia'? You may think that Microsoft produces better products, but the impression on the streets (and with many well informed people) is that Nokia does a good job.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; it would be impossible for Microsoft and Palm to market Smartphones and not make inroads. Companies that size always make inroads and I expect their market share to grow - if they couldn't make even a small dent in Symbian's shield, then they'd deservehave to start looking for people to sack.

Something that I think is great is that this huge monopolistic company called Microsoft, that can make or break its competitors with the wave of a legal document is following the standards of a small British company which started off making powerful calculators.

Psion broke the PDA ground and Microsoft followed, and now we see Psion's offspring, Symbian, doing the same; it breaks the ground and Microsoft follows. I think that this is great because the story isn't the same in the PDA market. Once Microsoft entered the PDA market, it may not have led it in terms of market share (and it still doesn't), but it did break new ground - it only took a few ideas from Palm. But here in the Smartphone market, we see Microsoft following Symbian and wherever Microsoft seeks to innovate, they see that someone has already been there. That is cute and as long as the likes of Nokia and SonyEricsson are directing Symbian, it'll stay that way.

End game? I don't see why any one company has to completely dominate the Smartphone market. If one does, I hope it's Symbian becayse at Symbian, you have different companies competing against each other, producing better and better products whereas if Microsoft were at the top, it would grind innovation to the ground being satisfied that since it has all the power, it only has to stay one feature ahead of the competition. Sad, but true.

yslee
10-07-2004, 02:12 AM
I'm not sure of the situation in Northam, but here it's more or less a stubborness of not wanting to learn a "complicated" UI that makes many stay with Nokia. Of course there're also factors like showing-off (the ones who change phones very frequently aren't always the brightest), how cool, the *ahem* fashionable looks, etc.

I think people buying the other Symbian devices are looking for more than a name.

Err, that's mostly the case here. Take the Nokia 7610.. I think more than half of those who've bought it have no idea that it's running symbian, or don't care that it is! They're more concerned with that 1 megapixel camera..

TANKERx
10-07-2004, 04:52 AM
I agree, if not only because you'd be hard pressed to find any reference to Symbian on a Symbian phone.

Microsoft Smartphones has 'Microsoft' written all over them, but Symbian Smartphones hide their Symbian-ness (maybe they're just more secure in the user's experience speaking for itself ;-) )

Mike Temporale
10-07-2004, 12:15 PM
I agree, if not only because you'd be hard pressed to find any reference to Symbian on a Symbian phone.

Microsoft Smartphones has 'Microsoft' written all over them, but Symbian Smartphones hide their Symbian-ness (maybe they're just more secure in the user's experience speaking for itself ;-) )

That's an interesting observation. Although, I think that this is more of a fluke than by design. Usually when you leave your name or brand off of something it has more to do with being ashamed. When you're proud of your accomplishment you tend to put your name all over it.

For example: Around here we have "No Name" brand of products in the grocery store. They claim to be made by the same company that makes the brand names. Another example: I worked for a major player in the lighting industry at their light bulb production plant. Basically they had 2 different assembly lines. 1 - would be their brand and have all sorts of quality assurance steps. 2 - Was used to sell bulbs to third party companies and they wouldn't be the same quality.

Anyway, like I said above, that's an interesting observation, but I don't think it means anything - in this case. :)