HTC

Nokia continues to lead smartphone market; outpacing rivals

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:19:15 -0500

Much has been made of the rocketing growth of Apple, RIM and HTC in the smartphone market, while Nokia has been lambasted for failing to recognise the trend and has missed out on this fast growing handset segment.

However, IDC's worldwide quarterly mobile phone tracker continues to position Nokia as the overall leader in converged or smartphone shipments with the popular flagship device, the N97, driving its market share to 37.9 per cent in Q3/09, compared to 37.1 per cent a year ago.

RIM has overtaken Apple to gain 2^nd place, albeit that its shipment volumes were largely North American-based. However, the company also posted significant improvement internationally, with some regions recording triple digit growth year over year.

Apple recorded its highest volume yet in a single quarter, driven by the near worldwide availability of the iPhone 3G S which triggered another round of annual replacements for Apple loyalists. However, while the iPhone has struggled within emerging markets, its arrival at China Unicom this year could foreshadow greater shipment volumes (although early reports would seem to indicate otherwise).

HTC retained 4^th position, excluding phones sold under another company's brand, and remains the largest provider of Windows Mobile-powered devices. Samsung returned to the top five vendors during Q3/09, although volumes were flat from a year ago. The company saw marked improvement in Asia/Pacific, Latin America and EMEA, and has been a big supporter of Windows Mobile.

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Evertiq

Nokia: No turnaround for 12 months, says Goldman Sachs

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:42:37 -0400

There is little hope of a revival in Nokia's fortunes in the next 12 months, says Goldman Sachs is a downbeat report that concluded the bulk of the world's largest mobile-phone maker's current woes were "self inflicted".

Goldman said Nokia's risk-reward profile remained uncompelling (relative to the broker's bullish view on the wider European technology sector) due to its continued loss of market share in the smart-phone segment, combined with a lack of convincing new high-end models scheduled for the next 12 months.

In a damming note to investors, a Goldman analyst wrote that, having experienced the Nokia N97, the company needed to start almost from scratch to create an attractive user experience, rather than following the complex menu structure of Series 60. "But this revamp is unlikely to be achieved rapidly. In the meantime, the iPhone will likely become available on a non-exclusive basis from many more operators, and move deeper into emerging markets, long the preserve of Nokia," the broker warned.

Goldman also believed that Nokia's 55 per cent market share in the mid-end smart-phone segment looked "unsustainably high" given that Nokia's brand image will ultimately suffer from its loss of leadership at the high end. In anticipation, Goldman has forecast that Nokia's value share in the segment will fall to 40 per cent in 2011.

Piling on the gloom, Goldman maintained that the key swing factor for Nokia's earnings in the mid term was the company's ability to execute its software/solutions strategy so that its high-end models could compete more successfully with products from Apple and Taiwan's HTC among others.

Unfortunately Nokia's track record in that area over the past eight years has been poor. It's failed to significantly break into the enterprise market dominated by RIM--although its latest deal with Microsoft might help combat this––and has fallen two years behind Apple in multimedia, despite the US firm's late entry into the market, the broker said.

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Market Watch

Patent lawsuit could halt HTC shipments to Germany

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:53:29 -0500

A district court in Mannheim, Germany, has ruled HTC infringed upon UMTS cellphone patents held by IP-Com. The court ruled that, if HTC fails to pay licence fees to German-based IP-Com, it might force HTC to stop sales of its handsets in Germany.

While this behaviour is not uncommon in the wireless technology industry, the impact on HTC could be significant given its work on Windows Mobile and Android handsets that would be affected by this supposed infringement. IP-Com also filed a separate injunction against Google last week, as the software company is working in conjunction with HTC on the T-Mobile G1 handset and its upcoming successor, the HTC Magic.

The alleged infringements revolve around patents acquired by IP-Com in 2006 from Bosch in Germany concerning baseband technology that is present in the UMTS chipset used by HTC. It does not involve HTC technology or intellectual property.

Commenting on the issue, IP-Com said it hoped it could agree on licensing terms with the other involved parties. However, the company warned that, if an agreement cannot be concluded, it would force HTC to stop selling the handsets in Germany. Last year, IP-Com filed the same case against Nokia and sued the company for US$17.7 billion.

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The Unwired and Electonista

Demand outstrips supply for T-Mobile's 'free' laptop offer

Paul Rasmussen — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:37:41 -0400

While most European operators are now offering laptop/mobile broadband packages, T-Mobile's would appear to have been especially attractive given the company has run out of stock. T-Mobile is now reported to be looking for an alternative manufacturer of suitably priced and configured laptops.

The Acer laptops, which were brought in as a trial by T-Mobile last month, were being sold as part of a bundle that included the laptop, 200 minutes, unlimited texts and a USB modem dongle. The tariff was around €30 per month for a two-year contract.

T-Mobile is now hurriedly attempting to find an alternative supplier given that Acer says it is unable to provide additional Travel 5320 laptops at the price that the operator wants.

To make matters worse, T Mobile says it has sold all the Android-powered G1 handsets it has ordered from manufacturer HTC in advance of the October 22nd launch. Indications are that T-Mobile is on target to sell between 400,000 and 500,000 G1s in the US and Europe by Christmas. The company is said to be preparing a fresh contract with HTC for an additional 1.5 to 2 million G1 handsets.

For more on this story:
- go to Mobile Today and Mobile Entertainment

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