Interesting co-opetition between Apple and Samsung

Samsung and Apple have been vehemently fighting each other over smartphone patents and the market share in various countries, but very few of us know that the two companies remain close collaborators on manufacturing Apple's iPhone. Samsung has a contract for supplying the application processors used in Apple's iPhone!!!! Interesting example of co-opetition. 

However as per market news, Samsung may lose its supply contract for the application processors used in Apple's iPhone for the coming year. Apple is now expected to award the contract to TSMC to manufacture all the application processors (APs) used in the 2014 model of its iPhone. Let's wait for the news to be confirmed officially

Tablet market gearing up; Android gaining market share

The PC manufacturers are for some tough time ahead. In fact, even if your main business is centered around making Laptops, be ready to face some rough weathers going ahead. Why? Here is the reason - according to latest report from market intelligence firm ABI Research named Media Tablets, Ultrabooks and eReaders Research Service, in 2013 approximately 150 million tablets (up 38% year-over-year) are forecasted to ship globally worth an estimated $64 billion (up 28% from 2012) in potential end-user revenues. This is mainly because of  convenience and mobility benefits afforded by tablet 

As far as the market share of operating systems is concern, the tide is slowly turning in favor of Android. About 60% of last year's tabletshipments used Apple's iOS operating system software while 37% were based on Google's Android OS (or development forks of Android, such as found on Amazon's Kindle Fire slates). The remaining 3% OS share consisted of Windows (Windows 7, 8, or RT), BlackBerry Tablet OS, and unidentified OS implementations.

Samsung's Smart Pad likely to hit the market before Apple's IPad 5

As per some reports Samsung is planning to launch a 6.3 inch Android smartphone in next 2 to 3 months. So the space between a 5 inch smart phone and a seven inch tablet is going to be filled by a converged device "Smart pad". If rumors are to be believed this is part of Samsung's Project Möbius, the code-name for Samsung's mammoth smartphone device, which is tipped to launch as the Samsung Galaxy Mega. It is quiet possible that Samsung may launch it with Google's next in line Android operating system i.e. Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie further smoothened by Samsung's customized Touchwiz user interface. A dual-core Exynos processor, an 8MP rear-facing camera, a 2MP front-facing camera are likely features. You may have to wait to check for affordability!!! 

The Smart Pad is likely to be launched ahead of Apple's next generation iPad whose production is expected to start at the Chinese assembly plants in July-August 2013. The 5th-generation 9.7-inch version iPad is expected to be thinner and lighter than the fourth-generation one and will adopt a slim bezel design, similar to that of the iPad mini.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in articles on this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency or organisation they serve.

Smartphones - Market share

As per the latest reports published by the comScore Google Android continued to lead among smartphone platforms, accounting for 53.6 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Apple secured 34.3 percent. For the three-month average period ending in October, device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 26.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.7 percentage points).

Top Mobile OEMs

	Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
	Jul-12	Oct-12	Point Change
Samsung	25.6%	26.3%	0.7
Apple	16.3%	17.8%	1.5
LG	18.4%	17.6%	-0.8
Motorola	11.2%	11.0%	-0.2
HTC	6.4%	6.0%	-0.4

Smartphone Platform Market Share

121.3 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (51.9 percent mobile market penetration) 

Top Smartphone Platforms

	Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
	Jul-12	Oct-12	Point Change
Google	52.2%	53.6%	1.4
Apple	33.4%	34.3%	0.9
RIM	9.5%	7.8%	-1.7
Microsoft	3.6%	3.2%	-0.4
Symbian	0.8%	0.6%	-0.2

Mobile Content Usage

In October, the percent of mobile subscribers in USA that used various types of contents are as follows - 

text messaging - 75.9 %(up 0.3 percentage points)

Downloaded applications -  54.5 % (up 1.9 percentage points), 

Browsers - 52.7% (up 1.5 percentage points).

Social networking sites or blogs - 39.4 % (up 1.5 percentage points) 

Game-playing - 34.1 % (up 0.3 percentage points), 

Listened to music on their phones -28.7 % (up 0.4 percentage points)

Tablet market forecast by IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) has come out with latest quarterly forecasts for tablet market. As per IDC tablet market will increase its 2012 forecast for the worldwide tablet market to 122.3 million, up from its previous forecast of 117.1 million units. IDC also raised its 2013 forecast number to 172.4 million units, up from 165.9 million units. And by 2016 worldwide shipments should reach 282.7 million units, up from a previous forecast of 261.4 million units.

IDC also forecasts a decline in eReader market. IDC now expects 2012 eReader shipments to top out at 19.9 million units, down from the 27.7 million units that shipped in 2011.

As far as tablet operating system splits is concern, IDC now expects Android's worldwide tablet share to increase from 39.8% in 2011 to 42.7% for the full year of 2012. During that same time Apple's share will slip from 56.3% in 2011 to 53.8% in 2012. Long term, IDC predicts Windows-based tablets (including Windows 8 and Windows RT) will grab share from both iOS and Android, growing from 1% of the market in 2011 to 2.9% in 2012, on its way to 10.2% in 2016.

Tablet Operating Systems, Market Share Forecast and CAGR 2012-2016

Tablet OS	Market Share		CAGR 2012 - 2016
	2012	2016
iOS	53.8%	49.7%	20.9%
Android	42.7%	39.7%	21.0%
Windows	2.9%	10.3%	69.2%
Other	0.6%	0.3%	7.7%
Grand Total	100.0%	100.0%	23.3%

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, December 5, 2012

Table Notes:

• Windows shipments include Windows RT, Windows 8, and Windows 7 tablets.
• Shipments include shipments to distribution channels or end users. OEM sales are counted under the vendor/brand under which they are sold.

Nokia's market share continue to slip in Western Europe

­According to IDC, The Western European Mobile Phone market recorded another quarter of year-on-year declines in the second quarter of 2009 (2Q09). Handset vendors shipped 42 million units to Western Europe, down 6% from 2Q08.

The switch from traditional mobile phones to converged mobile devices continued to be a major trend in Western Europe. Traditional mobile phones declined 12% during the quarter to 33.2 million units, and converged mobile devices (commonly known as smart phones) experienced a healthy 25% increase during the quarter to 8.8 million units, when compared to the same period last year. For the full year, IDC believes that the Western European market will decline 10%. Demand for converged mobile devices will continue to grow, but will not be strong enough to reverse the overall market decline as they represent only 21% of total shipments. On the other hand, traditional mobile phones will continue to decline, though at a lower rate, as vendors adjust their portfolios, bringing more features to the low-end devices.

But, the fact that caught my attention was that amongst the biggest handset vendors, Korean manufacturers continue to perform better than Scandinavian phone makers. For the first time, Samsung and LG together shipped more devices to Western Europe than Nokia. Nokia continues to be the market leader, with 36.3% market share, but the gap to Samsung, the second biggest vendor with 28.9% market share, continues to diminish. On the other hand, LG continues to challenge Sony Ericsson's market position, and the success of its touch screen handsets allowed LG to get 11.5% market share, the highest ever in Western Europe. The table below gives a better understanding -




Top Western European Mobile Phone Vendors,
Shipments and Market Share, 2Q09 (Units in Millions)
Vendor         2Q09 Unit    2Q09 Market      2Q08 Unit    2Q08Market    2Q09/2Q08
                     Shipments             Share       Shipments            Share          Change
Nokia             15.3                    36%                19                     43%             -19%
Samsung         12.2                    29%                10.9                  24%              12%
Sony Ericsson 5.1                      12%                6.2                    14%             -18%
LG                 4.8                      11%                2.8                      6%               71%
Apple             1.4                        3%                0.2                      0%             600%
RIM               1.2                        3%                0.8                      2%               50%
Others            2                           5%                4.7                    11%              -57%
Total              42                     100%                44.6                 100%                -6%

Source: IDC European Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, August 26, 2009
Note: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.

Nokia needs to connect differently.