Gartner Releases 2008 Smartphone Market Share Data

[Ed Hansberry]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=910112' target='_blank'>http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=910112</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"In the fourth quarter of 2008, worldwide sales of smartphones to end users reached 38.1 million units, an increase of 3.7 per cent on the fourth quarter of 2007, according to Gartner, Inc. Global sales of smartphones for 2008 reached 139.3 million devices, up 13.9 per cent compared with 2007."</em></p><p>By vendor, HTC was ranked 4th selling 5.8 million units, about half of what the iPhone sold. For operating systems, Windows Mobile came in third with 16.5 million licenses. RIM's Blackberry was second with 23.1 million licenses. Symbian was first, but for some reason, I just don't count that as a serious smartphone platform since it is so fragmented and many users with a Nokia treat their phone like a feature phone, never installing an app or syncing with anything.</p>

[Stinger]

How is Symbian fragmented? UIQ is dead. Symbian = S60 these days. Symbian is certainly no more fragmented than Windows Mobile.

I agree that a lot of users don't install apps on their Symbian phones but my experience is that the carriers sure do. You wouldn't believe the trash that the UK carriers pre-install.

The common theme between the most successful smartphones is that they can be used like feature phones. Complicated smartphones appeal to a niche market.

[doogald]

Was Microsoft lying about selling 20 million WM phones in 2008 then?

[Sven Johannsen]

I just don't count that [Symbian] as a serious smartphone platform since...many users ...never install...an app or sync... with anything.
Do you think the majority of RIM users do? Install apps anyway? Just curious about your assessment. The vast majority of BB users I know, use it just like it was when their company gave (forced) it to them.

[baker]

I had a BB 8830 "given" to me for work over a year ago. It is great for email and texting. It is OK for viewing Excel and PDFs. The browser is not friendly. I've purchased a few themes/today and tried a few calendar programs, but none are loaded now. You can't customize the rascals or change fonts. I still carry my HP4155 for PIM, reading, editing, etc. and sync it to work. And, when I have wifi, I use it to browse.

[Ed Hansberry]

How is Symbian fragmented? UIQ is dead. Symbian = S60 these days. Symbian is certainly no more fragmented than Windows Mobile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbian#Developing_on_Symbian_OS

The native language of the Symbian OS is C++, although it is not a standard implementation. There are multiple platforms based upon Symbian OS that provide an SDK (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/Software_development_kit) for application developers wishing to target a Symbian OS device – the main ones being UIQ and S60. Individual phone products, or families, often have SDKs or SDK extensions downloadable from the manufacturer's website too.

Symbian OS's flavour of C++ (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/C%2B%2B)<SUP class="noprint Template-Fact">[citation needed (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]</SUP> is very specialised. However, many Symbian OS devices can also be programmed in OPL (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/Open_programming_language), Python (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/Python_(programming_language)), Visual Basic (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/Visual_Basic), Simkin (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/Simkin_(language)), and Perl (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/Perl) – together with the Java ME (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/Java_Platform,_Micro_Edition) and PersonalJava (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/PersonalJava) flavours of Java (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/Java_(programming_language)).

Introduction of the Symbian Signed (http://www.symbiansigned.com/) system in which application developers need to pay in order to use some of the more attractive smartphone features (as contrasted to platforms like Palm OS (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/Palm_OS) and Windows Mobile (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/wiki/Windows_Mobile)) is making it an increasingly unpopular platform for Open Source projects<SUP id=cite_ref-26 class=reference>[27] (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/#cite_note-26)</SUP>, independent developers and small startups. This situation is worsened by the fragmentation of user interface systems (UIQ vs S60 vs MOAP)<SUP id=cite_ref-27 class=reference>[28] (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/#cite_note-27)</SUP>, meaning that developers need to build and maintain multiple incompatible versions of their software<SUP id=cite_ref-28 class=reference>[29] (http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/#cite_note-28)</SUP> if they want to target multiple devices which use the same underlying Symbian OS version.

I'd say that is substantially more fragmented than Windows Mobile. Unbelievable to me that there are SDKs for specific phones or phone families. WinMo basically has two flavors - touch and non-touch. You have to make sure your UI can handle different device resolutions, but the API is there to allow for that. The only real fragmentatation in WinMo phones is caused by OEMs like HTC that customize the UI enough that it can cause problems with some apps that also try to tie themselves into the UI.

[Ed Hansberry]

Was Microsoft lying about selling 20 million WM phones in 2008 then?

Don't think so. These are handset sales and MS was talking about licenses. In a given year they won't match up. Plus, some licenes were sold to manufacturers that sell directly to some entities. Symbol for example - I doubt many of their numbers are included in Gartner's data.

[Ed Hansberry]

Do you think the majority of RIM users do? Install apps anyway? Just curious about your assessment. The vast majority of BB users I know, use it just like it was when their company gave (forced) it to them.

Honestly don't know. RIM is trying to encourage it with their App store. Our company is mostly BB devices and some people do have third party apps installed. Purely anecdotal though.

[doogald]

Don't think so. These are handset sales and MS was talking about licenses. In a given year they won't match up. Plus, some licenes were sold to manufacturers that sell directly to some entities. Symbol for example - I doubt many of their numbers are included in Gartner's data.

I was just going by what Steve Ballmer said at CES.

And last, but certainly not least, our partners have sold more than 20 million Windows phones over the course of the last 12 months.

And does Symbol even sell a phone? I thought that they sold just non-phone devices.

[Ed Hansberry]

I was just going by what Steve Ballmer said at CES.



And does Symbol even sell a phone? I thought that they sold just non-phone devices.

Define partner. If HTC sells a phone to AT&T, but AT&T still has it in inventory, does that count, or does it only count if HTC sells it to a consumer?

I am just saying Gartner is focused on consumer/end user sales.

And i had forgotten, Symbol was purchased by MOT, and yes, they make enterprise industrial phones - http://www.motorola.com/Business/US-EN/Business+Product+and+Services/Mobile+Computers

[Stinger]

I'd say that is substantially more fragmented than Windows Mobile. Unbelievable to me that there are SDKs for specific phones or phone families. WinMo basically has two flavors - touch and non-touch. You have to make sure your UI can handle different device resolutions, but the API is there to allow for that. The only real fragmentatation in WinMo phones is caused by OEMs like HTC that customize the UI enough that it can cause problems with some apps that also try to tie themselves into the UI.

You might want to read Pocket PC Thoughts (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/news/show/92854/samsung-sdk-now-available.html) a bit more often. ;)

Both platforms have their fair share of fragmentation. The variety of screen resolutions is definitely Windows Mobile's biggest problem.

[Ed Hansberry]

You might want to read Pocket PC Thoughts (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/news/show/92854/samsung-sdk-now-available.html) a bit more often. ;)

Oh please. those are advanced APIs for access to Samsung's accelerometer, notification LEDs and haptics feedback.

[Stinger]

Oh please. those are advanced APIs for access to Samsung's accelerometer, notification LEDs and haptics feedback.

Exactly the same reason why some Symbian phones have their own SDK. What other reason would there be? Nokia don't release SDKs for the sheer hell of it.

The Wikipedia article is incredibly out of date too. Lots of references to Symbian Ltd and UIQ (both now gone).

[Ed Hansberry]

Exactly the same reason why some Symbian phones have their own SDK. What other reason would there be? Nokia don't release SDKs for the sheer hell of it..

Nokia isn't the only one releasing S60 devices. One simple example (http://innovator.samsungmobile.com/cms/cnts/detail.view.do?platformId=1&cateId=35&childCateId=&cntsId=1281&imgType=&parentCateId=35&listReturnUrl=http%3A%2F%2Finnovator.samsungmobile.com%3A80%2Fcms%2Fmain%2Fmain.do%3FplatformId%3D1&previousUrl=http%3A%2F%2Finnovator.samsungmobile.com%3A80%2Fcms%2Fmain%2Fmain.do%3FplatformId%3D1)here details compatibility issues with Python versions 1.4.5 and 1.9.0 on the Samsung release of S60. Obviously there are issues or there wouldn't be a need for the SDK info on it.

When you have so many different development envorinments on the S60, you cannot help but have issues. Symbian and Series 60 didn't get a reputation for having cross-compatibility issues for nothing (http://www.whatmobile.net/News/forumchat/162583/the_annoying_inconsistency_beginning_to_show_across_s60_devices.html).

I know Nokia is working on making it better, and I think it is better today than it was years ago, but you'll never get me to come close to acknowledging that WinMo devices have near the issues.

But I'm sure you'll try.

[Stinger]

I know Nokia is working on making it better, and I think it is better today than it was years ago, but you'll never get me to come close to acknowledging that WinMo devices have near the issues.

But I'm sure you'll try.

Nah, there's obviously no point. :)

I've owned both S60 and WinMo phones (3+ phones from either side). I know that fragmentation is no worse and no better on either platform from first-hand experience.

[Brad Adrian]

Do you think the majority of RIM users do? Install apps anyway?
You're absolutely right. I don't know the exact figure, but I'd be willing to bet that 99% of Blackberry owners have not installed a single application. And those that have either have custom apps from their employer or some simple enhancement/utility and not what I'd consider a true "application."

[rlieving]

First of all Ed, the E71 is a real phone.

I hook it up to ActiveSync and have full contacts, calendar and tasks. I had to buy RoadSync by DataViz in order to get full email support. It doesn't support calendar invites, like WM5 (and beyond) does.

But you know what? When you launch an application (there aren't many, but how many do you really need?) it opens. When you close it, it closes. The battery lasts several days. The UI is very easy to navigate - without 3rd party installs. The Nokia browser and Opera Mini kick the crud out of PIE. It plays Youtube out of the box (something I don't do much, but was touted by this publication as a great victory for Google/WM.)

The E71 tethers out of the box. It takes voice commands just like my WM phone did. It can read emails to me - something that WM never did. It multi-tasks, just as a WM phone does. It is easy to switch networks - no going through the communication manager to turn on WiFi or switch back to the phone network.

The E71 makes phone calls very easily, something WM just never got right. I never really understood how annoying making a call on a WM phone was until I switched.

Is the E71 a WM killer? No. The UI is ugly and it doesn't do some of the things that WM does well. On the other hand, I assure you that it is a REAL SmartPhone. And overall, my frustration level with this phone is a small percent of what I dealt with when I had my WindowsMobile phone. (Still frustrated.)

But it isn't all about the API or the cool new SPB UI coming out. Most people just want a phone with a decent browser and the ability to sync their contacts and calendar. They want a dependable phone that has a decent battery life that makes phone calls easily. I am sorry, but the WM5.0 phone just didn't do those things. And Nokia makes a couple of phones that meet those criteria.

The E71 is one of them. It is a real phone.