Mobile Conections

Smartphones Growth

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:41:00 +0000

According to Gartner Worldwide smarphones sales grew 12.7% in 1Q 2009. Total smartphones sold were in access of 36.4M units worldwide, which is approximately half of PC sold in the same period. Now this is something to write home about. No longer Smartphones are a niche market. In fact there is discussion that they are displace PCs because of their enhanced capabilities and ability to support a variety of applications.

Gartner reported sales of 36.4million smartphones, representing 13.5% of all mobile devices sales in the 1Q2009. This percentage grew from 11% in the same period last year.

One thing to note here is these numbers are for worldwide sales, in North America and Western Europe smartphone penetration is much higher, up to 23% market share. Where as in LATAM and other parts of the world, smartphone penetration could be as low as 3% of the total mobile devices.

Top U.S. smartphones

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:21:00 +0000

A recent Comsore report listed the market share of top U.S smartphones. There were some surprises in the report, contrary to the common wisdom.

Estimated total units for the top 5 smartphones by OS in U.S are as follows:

RIM (Blackberry) - 9,668,977
Windows Mobile - 6,807,554
Apple - iPhone - 5,258,504
Palm OS - 2,398,755
Symbian - 888,532
Android - 427,914

Need for Parental Controls

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:46:00 +0000

Today it is established that Parents need better visibility on what their kids are doing online. When you ask the parents why, they are very clear about the need and concern. The safety and security of their children. With 90,000 registered sex offenders lurking on MySpace, and unknown on other online social networks, Instant Messaging SPAM (SPIM), SMS spam and bullying

Today a most of security companies are providing parental controls for PC and Mac, Microsoft and Apple new have some limited parental controls included as part of the Operating Systems (OS). Wireless Carriers are providing time and use limits for parental controls for mobile phones.

All of these services are addressing parent's fears and concerns about this kids being on-line all the time and unsolicited contact and access of their personal information by strangers.

However, what is missing today is parental controls for cell phones, the new PC.

It is even more critical for parents to be able to connect with their kids and know what they are doing on the cell phones. Because cell phone provide unrestricted access to Internet for kids.

Sexting has become a pandemic and needs to be addressed quickly. Having parental controls on cell phones and PC discourages children from engaging in such behavior because they know that their parents will find out.

I launch a Free beta of my company, MobiZim to help parents and provide them with the peace of mind. MobiZim delivers parental controls on cell phones. Parents can now monitor their kids phone usage from an online family portal from anywhere.

Many Teens Going Online Wirelessly Without Limits or Controls

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:27:00 +0000

Cox Communication published a survey on behavior of young people online. This survey was conducted in partnership with National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and America's Most Wanted (AMW) host and children's advocate John Walsh.

This is the first year this survey tried to understand teen behavior using cell phones. Highlighting the fact that majority of the teen now have a cell phone (over 70%).

Some of the key results include:

91% of teens surveyed have email address
73% have a cell phone while 59% have a digital camera (today majority of cell phone, over 70%, have a built in camera, higher percentage in North America and Western Europe)
72% have profiles on social networking sites and 60% have an instant messenger screen name
More than one third (1/3) of teens surveyed have been cyberbullied, perpetrated cyberbullying or know of friend who have experience or perpetrated it.
19% (20% from survey of 1280 teens) have engaged in sexting --sending, receiving, or forwarding. 81% of teen sexters are under 18.
19% of teens surveyed go online via their cell phone (26-30% teens according to mmetrics and other)

For additional details on the survey click here.

Some Interesting quotes from John Walsh.

"Teens are not only online, they are active in every nuance of cyberspace. Many have no controls over what they do online and of those who do, nearly 30 percent figure ways around the boundaries set by their parents," said John Walsh. "Those parents who have been vigilant over their kids' use of the Internet via their computers, haven't extended their watch to their kids' use of the wireless devices, which are increasingly offering predators all the access they need to our precious and vulnerable young ones. Teens are prone to choosing risky behaviors even though they know better, so parents must continue to regularly talk with their children and monitor their activities."

iPhone for Older Generations

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:28:00 +0000

Nielson recently published iPhone users demographics. Interesting to note is that against common wisdom, 53% of 6.4million iPhone users are over the age of 35 and 17% are over 55 years old. Users between the age of 18-24 are only 13%.

Possible reasons for this distribution include $199 price of the phone and the most painful part is up to $1200/year for voice and data services. Unlimited data is mandatory purchase for iPhone subscribers.

At MobiZim we thought so and it makes, now we have independent confirmation. Mobile Parental Controls on iPhone will be important, but it will have to wait until Apple decides to allow background processes and iPhone prices drop below $99 and the data subscription prices drop further.

Smartphones - On The Rise

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:13:00 +0000

Yankee Group recently published a report stating the smartphones are becoming common in consumers. According to the new research 41% of consumers are likely to choose a smartphone as their next mobile devices. According to Yankee's outlook by 2013, 38% of all handsets will be smartphones. To get a perspective, in 2008 there were 1.5 Billion phones sold.

Growth of smartphones will have significant influence on the mobile phone market ecosystem. Especially the relationship between phone OEM and wireless operators. The best of which is more open environment, a change in what gets delivered pre-installed on the phone and applications that can be installed on the phones. This change will be good for all the operators, OEM and the consumers. A WIN, WIN, WIN situation.

AT&T and Android Phones

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:25:00 +0000

There is talk that AT&T may release atleast two Google Android-based phones. This is great news for MobiZim as we already have support for Android phones for parental controls on cell phone. The rumored phones is HTC Lancaster and the target date is August 3, 2009.

The second phone that AT&T is planning to launch is a also 3G capable and is Motorola's Heron to be released by November of t his year.

MobiZim wants to see more smartphones enter the market.

The Rise of Smartphones

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:58:00 +0000

Worldwide mobile phone sales for Q1 2009 totalled 269.1million a decline of 9.4% decline from Q1 2008 according to Gartner. But smartphones as a category did very well. Total sales for this quarter were 36.4 million (13.5% of all worldwide phones sales compared to 11% from same period last year) an increase of 12.7% over the same period last year.

Smartphone growth is expected to continue at a healthy rate through the global downturn and as the economic outlook looks more positive, it is expected to accelerate. Current growth of smartphones is fueled by the aggressive pricing of smartphones by mobile operators to attract new customers and to upgrades and renew contracts of exiting customers. Also the decline in data services pricing is creating demand for smartphones in addition to a few other factors.

For more details of the Gartner's report click here.

What's New in Mobility

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Wed, 13 May 2009 23:13:00 +0000

I have been busy for the last several months to get my companys service launched. We have been developing a cloud service to enable parents to monitor their children's cell phone usage, review phone data, and protect personal information stored on the phone. It provides Parental Controls on Cell phone.

My new venture is called MobiZim. A couple of weeks ago, we announced the free beta of our service. Parents can easily add their kids phones and monitor their use from anywhere over the web from the family portal, ZimPlace.

Try it and let me know what you think. You can get started from the main website Mobizim or www.mobizim.com

Looking forward to your feedback.

Gartner's Eight Mobile Technologies to Watch in 2009-2010

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:40:00 +0000

Gartner has outlined eight mobile technologies that will evolve significantly through 2010. These technologies can have a significant impact in the short-term on mobile strategies of mobile companies and operators.

Bluetooth 3.0
Mobile User Interface
Location
802.11n
Display Technologies
Mobile Web and Widgets
Cellular Broadband
Near Field Communication (NFC)

See full report at mobile enterprise magazine
See my blog from 2007 on what needs to happen in Mobile technologies to the market to grow.

Windows Phone, Android G2, HTC, Microsoft, Google

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 01:48:00 +0000

I felt, someone pulled a fast one on us. I am still trying to figure this one out. I knew that HTC would show Windows Mobile 6.5 phone at MWC, they do that every year. They have been at it for 11 years. They have sold 40 million of 50 million Windows phones over these years. But here is the where the surprises start. Instead of announcing one (1), they announced two (2) Windows phones, HTC Touch Diamond2 and HTC Touch Pro2. There is no G2, surprisingly it was missing. What happened? When President of HTC Peter Chou’s was asked about it answer was not compelling, “Google Android is part of our product portfolio,…” additional versions “were coming out in the future.” He also said, they “remain focused” on Windows…. What happened? I want to know. HTC was the 1st OEM to ship an Android phone.

Should Google rely on HTC? Is HTC over committed to Microsoft? They do make nice phones, but no iphone killers yet. With Samsung and LG on board and possibly Sony, perhaps, Google does not need to worry much at this time. The one and only new Android phone on the show was from Vodafone, (HTC ODM), so that is nice. Vodafone deal is a big one for Google.

So is it 1-0 in Windows Phone vs. Google Android.

In case you missed the announcement, Windows Mobile Phones are now Windows Phone. Very nice, I like the new brand.

Some other facts:

Microsoft have 50 Windows phone OEMs, which include Samsung, LG, Motorola, Palm, Pantech …
Other 49 OEMS sold a total of 10 million phones over the years.
There are 11 Windows Phone models that have shipped 1million+ units
Of which Samsung has shipped 3 Windows phone (Samsung Omnia (SGH-i900/908/SCH-i910/M490, Blackjack (SGH-i607/600), and Blackjack II (SGH-i617) and
Motorola shipped Motorola Q which also sold over one (1) million

So that leaves less than 5 million devices shipped of over 12 years by everyone else.

Palm is not on any list. Their Pre sounds good, but would like to know more before forming opinion.

Ballmer Says "A Fundamental Economic Reset”

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:15:00 +0000

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on February 6, 2009 during a speech at the US House of Representative Caucus Retreat in Virginia said, for Microsoft, that means fewer PC sales. For the rest of us, it means "a fundamental economic reset." He echoed the view that the problem with the economy is that it grew for 25 years on unrealistically cheap debt and that is over.

Some highlights

For the past 25 years, the world has certainly enjoyed incredible, incredible global growth. Average incomes around the world grew at unprecedented rates, millions of people moved from out of poverty into the middle class for the very first time.

I think that expansion was built on three things: innovation, globalization, and debt, increasing debt.

The hard truth is this, in my opinion: The private sector of our economy has borrowed too much money, businesses and consumers alike, fueled by the a lot of different things, some notion that housing prices would go up forever, that you could borrow money cheaply.

I gave a speech at Stanford Business School a few years back, and I was talking, we’re a company that has been conservative, per the yellow pieces of paper. We like to keep cash. And a very smart Ph.D. in the audience puts his hand up and said, “Why don’t you borrow money?” I said, “I don’t like to borrow money.” He said, “But it’s so cheap; you’re depriving your shareholders.” I think it reminds us that essentially consumers and businesses alike have really borrowed too much money.

The bubble has burst. We can no longer rely on consumption by refinancing our homes or inexpensive money to fuel economic growth, and that’s certainly had a huge impact.

At our own place, what we think about PC sales, they are discretionary in most home budgets, the second, the third PC. Consumer electronics has that characteristic. Fifty percent of capital spending in this country is on information technology. Less capital, less spend on information technology. No sector will be immune.

Sad in many ways, but I am glad that the tech leaders are setting the right expectations. We need to go back to the basics of, spend some and save some. Before you borrow money, have a plan how how you plan to return it.

Full Story @Silicon Alley Insider

Harsh Economic Realities

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:44:00 +0000

Yesterday both Intel and Microsoft announced their quarterly earnings, showing the direct relation of economic harshness to the tech sector. Not a surprise, but sad.

Intel’s profit dropped from $2.3 billion a year ago to just $234 million. What's more depressing is that their revenues plummeted from $10.7 billion a year ago to just $2 billion this quarter (- 81%). Intel also announced closures of fabs in Santa Clara and Mass. and lay off of 5000-6000 people. I wonder if that is the last of Intel's challenges.

The impact to Microsoft may not be as dramatic, yet (1 quarter phase shifted). It declared $16.63 billion in revenue, actually a 2% increase as compared to last year but their net income is down 11% at $4.17billion. Microsoft announced a lay off of 5,000 people (over next 18 months).

My concern, Intel's sharp decline of revenues could mean more troubled news around the corner from Dell, HP, and again Microsoft also others like these guys.

Cisco will announce their quarterly earning early February. I am not holding my breadth for good news. It is rumored that there is a lay off of 6,000-8,000 people to be announced.

Mr. President, we need that recovery package Now, Please.....

2009 Starting with a Bang

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:36:00 +0000

2009 WOW!! What a start! In just the last 14 days, there have been a flood of news. Some exciting and others are outright depressing. Definitely not a boring and slow start.

Nortel

Nortel is bankrupt (Wall street), here the writing was on the wall, I am just surprised that it actually took as long as it took.
Will Microsoft now buy Nortel or at least a piece of it to compete with Cisco's Unified Messaging and upgrade the Meridian install base to Office Communication Server (OCS) 2007?

Cisco

Cisco is quietly laying off people, 10+% Is Microsoft doing the same? that is the rumor.
Consumer is the next frontier - again. However, I think this time there are more chances of success, given the penetration of broadband and mobile devices.

Motorola

Motorola will build the high-end phones with Windows Mobile, no, scratch that, actually, Motorola, will not do Windows Mobile at all (was that by choice?)
Motorola is also dropping out of CTIA, no wait, they will be there.
Motorola laying off J2ME engineers and hiring Android, so soon.....

I am confused.

Google/Android

Android is getting good press. Everyone is building smartphones on Android.
Even Sony Ericsson, which is rumored to drop Symbian for Android?
What about Nokia?

I am personally happy about that, because I have a personal bet on Andriod and I would like to win it. If Motorola is only going to make Andriod devices, it is great.

Apple

iPhone nano, a lot of rumors.
Steve Job expecting/dreaming 40% of smartphone market by 2013. May be possible but that would mean Apple has to sell close to 100Million iphones.
Selling 100M iphones may not be hard but not unless exclusive deals with Mobile Operators are dropped

I hope the smartphone market will have expandad by 2013 that 100million will by 20% of the market. A fair share for anyone.

Microsoft

Reducing the number of Windows Mobile OEM, I think this is a good thing, but that means there needs to be a fundamental shift in strategy.
With Todd Peters and Andy Lees on the steering wheel, perhaps the ship will turn but not without some blood letting. [I personally have a lot of respect for Andy and I believe that he can.]
Windows Mobile 7 to expected to be announed at Mobile World Congress (MWC) no suprise here, but certianly a change in plans.
Will be see a new Danger device?
It is expected that this year on ~70 Microsoft employees will attend MWC vs. 300+ last year.

I am more interested in knowing what will Microsoft NOT announce. Can't say much here as I recently left Microsoft to start my own company.

HTC

Great news, more Android devices in 2009
Expect to see an HTC Windows Mobile 7 Device at MWC?
Until now HTC has been all about Windows Mobile, good to see that they have another horse in the race.
Even though there is some love lost between Microsoft and HTC for picking up Android, but HTC still remains the coolest WinMo OEM. For picture of leaked roadmap, (click here)

Palm

Palm certianly came into 2009 with a big splash. PRE and WebOS. [Have not tried it, but looks nice]
1.5million PRE in 2009, if they can pull it off, that would be great.
Any rumors about Android?

I hope 2009 is the year Palm turns around.

Dell

Dell's smartphone, ok that is boring, we have heard that story before, its called Axim.
What is new this time? Android, it would be interesting to see ZING Systems technology
Definitely important for Dell to be in this space giving the adoption of mobile devices and predictions of future.
What about HP - should they re-enter the smartphone market too?

I think I need to stop here. This blog is getting long. 2009 has just started, lots more to come.

G1, G2, G3, Android phones line up for 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 06:48:00 +0000

T-Mobile blog (CellPhone Signal published) is talking about the G2. Claiming HTC as manufacturer and that it will hit the market on January 26th 2009. HTC makes great phones, so I am sure they will do a better job on G2 as compared to G1, whenever it comes to market.

This is good news. But not the best part. For me, the more exciting news is that soon another Android phone (a smartphone) will hit the market (hopefully in 1Q2009). VentureBeat is their blog is discusses the short gap between G1 and G2, and potentially, the user can get upset, but I doubt that would be the case. Cutting price on the same device (iphone) is different.

Operators are constantly introducing new phones. Now especially given that Samsung, LG and Motorola are planning to introduce Android based phones in 2009. HTC needs to keep the lead and in my view has better chances of building a iPhone killer as compared to others.

iPhone is getting a lot of noise right now and everyone is struggling to get some air. However, with given all the limitations on developers and lack of ability to run background applications on iPhone, I am a fan of Windows Mobile and Android. I look forward to the near future when Apple allows iPhone to run applications in the background, which would make iPhone a better communication device.

Good News for Consumers - Another Mobile Application Market

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:33:00 +0000

It is great to see another Mobile Application Market coming into existence, today Palm announced its Palm Software Store. This is a sign of good times to come. What do I mean by that? The traditional model of Mobile Operators controlling what services and applications will be available to mobile phone users is starting to come to an end. See my 1st Wish for 2008.

Palm announced more than 5,000 apps and games that can be downloaded. One thousand of the applications listed are free. This is a good start. Palm also announced that over 1,500 developers have submitted applications to the store. Also great.

However, this store is only for Palm OS and Microsoft Windows Mobile phones. I can see that soon Mega stores will emerge, like a Wal-mart of Mobile Applications or better yet, Amazon of Mobile Applications. Perhaps, Amazon will start selling Mobile Applications and become Amazon of Mobile Applications.

That is when we will see more openness and innovation in mobile applications and services.

Other proof points for this trend to grow and take hold is that fact that Mobile Operators are opening up their online properties to allow developers to distribute their applications. Just Today T-Mobile announced its DevPartner Community. ATT in US and in Europe Vodafone and Orange have similar programs to encourage developers to your their markets to distribute their applications. I am loving it.

Given all the depressing news in 2008 around economy and recession/depression, emergence to Mobile Applications markets and demolition of Walled Gardens gives me Hope, Warmth, and Comfort.

Sony Ericsson, Vodefone, Softbank Mobile + 11 others join the Adnriod Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:02:00 +0000

Sony Ericsson’s announced that it will join the Open Handset Alliance (OHA). According to the press release the 1st Android based devices from Sony Ericsson device will hit the market in mid 2009 and it will be a high-end devices. Higher thanks Windows Mobile?

This announcement is a good win for Android and is an important sign of the momentum for the Google-led open source mobile software initiative.

Other major names mentioned that joined the OHA include heavy hitters like Huawei, Vodafone, and Softbank Mobile. It is interesting to note that both Vodefone and Sony Ericsson declined to join OHA earlier raising their concerns about the quality and the motives of the OS and the initiative.

Analyst are estimating the T-Mobile G1 (first Android phone) will sell around 500,000 devices this year, nothing compared to iPhones volume at launch, but with Motorola, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and HTC expected to introduce their Android based devices next year, we can expect to see a surge in numbers next year.

Who knows, maybe Palm will drop its idea of propitiatory OS and board the Android train.

Latest Smartphone OS Market Share

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:39:00 +0000

According to a recent report from Gartner RIM and iphone are growing strong and take market share in both devices and OS categories for smartphone. According to the report the top six rankings for smartphone OS World Wide are as follows:

1. Symbian 49.8%
2. RIM blackberry OS 15.9%
3. Apple Mac OS X 12.9%
4. Windows Mobile 11.1%
5. Linux 7.2%
6. Palm OS 2.1%

iPhone for $99, more smartphones to cross to $100 mark

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:21:00 +0000

Today Bloomberg News reported Wal-Mart will start selling iPhone in December. How much will iPhone sell for, is still not clear, the rumor suggested $99. This might be a good move by Apple as there is a good chance the $99 Android phone may start to hit the market by mid 2010. For example Motorola Razr like device.

Just last week Kogan, an Australian phone manufacturar announced two models of unlocked devices based on Android, the Pro version is for $256 (399 AUD) and the standard version for $192 (299 AUD).

The good news for the consumers is that the prices for smartphones are falling faster than what the analyst like Gartner and Strategy Analytics has predicted. Combine it with the falling prices of Data connectivity and we have a perfect storm for growth of smartphones.

Now I am anxious so see what Samsung has to announce at Mobile World Congress in Feb 2009 in Barcelona. 2009 is going to be a great year for Mobile phones. Looking forward to it.

more bad news for Palm

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:43:00 +0000

Today Palm announced that it is expects its revenue to be between $190M to $195M which is a whopping 41% drop from expected. Last week Palm announed plans to cut workforce.

Palm: Time to Hedge Smartphone Bet

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:04:00 +0000

We have all heard about Palm’s (PALM) struggle in the smartphone market. Palm has been bringing leadership in from Apple and Microsoft to put new life in its core business (~80% ). Palm has been credited with kick started the smartphone market over a decade ago. It started with its proprietary PalmOS, which seeded this market but as others entered the market, RIM with Blackberry, Microsoft with Windows Mobile OS, and Nokia with its Symbian devices, Palm has found it hard to differentiate itself from the growing crowd. A couple of year ago, they announced support for Windows Mobile OS on Treo and that has not been a good bet.

Palm has recently announced t that they will announce their top-secret mobile OS later this year with plans to have the first device available in 2009. In this market, it seems like a risky move for a company. Now with Apple with is iPhone and Google’s Android further crowding the market it may be difficult for Palm to find OEM and Mobile Operators to bring their phones to the market. Recent lackluster of Centro and the not so good a bet on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS, Palm should look a closer look at Android.

There is a good chance that Palm will not get a carrier deal for its latest Treo Pro.
Anoher factor working against Palm: No built-in market. Besides some clear innovation in user interface of iPhone, Apples iTunes and tightly associated Appstore was already mature.

RUMOR: Wal-Mart of Sell 3G iphone

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 04:14:00 +0000

FierceWireless reported that of the possibility that from December 28th, 2008 Wal-Mart will will start selling Apple's 3G iPhone. Only the 2,500 of 3,500 US Wal-Marts will carry the phone. Wal-Mart's Sam's Club (only 69 of 500 stores) will also carry the phone. Does that mean lower prices, I hope so.

What interested me most about this news is the fact that non-Mobile Operator stores are starting to gain traction for selling phones. This is great news for companies that develop mobile applications and services. Now there are new channels (being developed) for getting applications and services distributed directly to customers.

This can potentially have additional benefits to the consumers including reduced phone and service prices. Now the customer can compare side-by-side phones and prices from multiple mobile operators side by side.

Android Making Inroads - One more win for Android

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:57:00 +0000

Earlier this month Motorola annouced that it will use Android is the OS for its mid-tier phones.

HTC is onboard with G-1, Rich Minor from Google mentioned during the Open Mobile Summit last week that there is more to come.
Samsung has already announced its plans for Android.
LG is expected to ship in early 2009
Sony Ericsson is not sure what they want, but then who cares what SE thinks, with less than 2% market share
Kyocera (now also own Sanyo) is rumored to have Android phones

Motorola, Samsung, LG, Kyocera, that accounts for ~75% of the US mobile phone market. Granted that not all phones from these OEM will be Android based, but the collective market reach is large.

Microsoft? My NDA prohits me to write anything about Microsoft plans, but I will say this. User Experience is something that Microsoft has never been good at and this is where they need most help against Apple and Android. Same goes for Nokia. Both have a huge upside in US with their current only 13% market share.

One update for Android is its openness and the open Android market. Apple on the other hand is very closed about the AppStore. Microsoft on the other hand is missing from action today.

Samsung the New Top U.S Handset Manufacturer

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:35:00 +0000

According to a recent Strategy Analytics report, Samsung overtook Motorola as the leading vendor of handsets in U.S. Motorolla has been hurting for a while now. The recent announcement of their new strategy for consolidation of OS may help but that is going to take a while.

I believe Motorola's problems are deeper then efficiency, there are missing creative juices. Razor was a great design, but then what? They have milked Razor more than it should. Their CTO who was credited for Razor is now in Cisco, let's hope the new person incharge delivers.

FYI. Strategy Analytics reported Samsung with 22.4% of U.S market and Motorola dropped to 21.1%. In 2007 Motorola commanded 34.6% while Samsung was at 18.2%.

Motorola's New Strategy bets on Android

noreply@blogger.com (Omar Nawaz) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:46:00 +0000

Yesterday Motorola announced its new mobile strategy to reduce numbers of Operating Systems (OS) supported on Motorola phone from six (6) to three (3). This is a move in the right direction given the recent challanges of Motorola Mobile devision. This is a big win for Google Android. As part of the new strategy, Motorola will use Android for its mid-tier phones, largest by volume for Motorola.

Now with two viable Open Source mobile OS in the market, supported by deep pockets of Nokia and Google leaves Microsoft, Apple, and RIM with the big questions:

OPEN or NOT To OPEN

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently told Reuters ""It's interesting to ask why would Google or Nokia--Google in particular--why would they invest a lot of money and try to do a really good job if they make no money?." One word "Platform." That statement to many would mean, Microsoft is not going that route, I on the other hand would guess, Microsoft is now thinking about it. hahaha...

RIM and Apple will need to think hard, especially Apple. Its great success with iPhone can become even bigger were it more open. I don't meen open source, but allow developers to write REAL applications. RIM on the other hand is likely to open some of its API especially with "Bold" and soon to be released "Pearl flip" targeted to consumers.

We are starting to see the consolidation of Mobile OS, with Microsoft with the biggest challange at its hand.