Ah yes, I always leap upon new official figures from Canalys - kind of like tuning into radio chart shows to find out which song is 'number 1'. 118 million smartphones were sold across the world in 2007, but who were the winners and losers? Read on to find out.
Read on in the full article.
If the iPhone is included, what about all the other equivalent mid-range feature phones?
I suspect that the iPhone is in there because it's a smartphone that err.... hasn't had its smartness unlocked yet. 8-)
Within a few weeks, all iPhone will be able to run proper 3rd party apps though and the Canalys classification will make more sense!
Steve
For anyone that hasn't realised it yet, we're at the start of the next generation of "personal computer". Microsoft will have as much impact on and success in operating systems for this generation as IBM (a mainframe and minicomputer manufacturer at the time, and the previous leader of the pack) had over the last generation. i.e. very little, rapidly fading into obscurity. Note, I am talking software, not hardware (IBM designed the original PC of course, but that comparison can't be made here as MS have not designed a global standard in mobile hardware). Anyone focussing on MS from now on is focussing on old technology.
Nokia itself enjoys 44.5% of the smartphone market.
I don't think the iPhone could be called Smartphone.
What makes a Smartphone is in my point of view the ability to install native 3rd-Party Software.
That really makes a Phone smart and usable as something like a "Computer 2.0" (Nokias marketing term for the N95).
The iPhone is like all the other newer feature Phones (for example the S40 Devices, or the SE K800i). They all can play music, can receiver Email, have some PIM-Tools. And they are in contrast to the iphone able to run j2me-applications. Sure the iPhone has a big nice touchscreen with a good UI and a powerfull browser. But as iItested it, browsing the Web over EDGE was slower than on my E61i over UMTS with Opera Mini.
And about Microsoft and Windows Mobile:
I don't think that their position is that bad.
Looking at the People how really are beware that they are buying a Smartphone (buying the device just because they want a smartphone), MS's marketshare is much bigger.
Nokia does somehow "fake" the Smartphone sells just by giving nearly all their mid- to upperclass phones S60.
Nokia is the Nr. 1 in Mobilephones. Their phones like the N95 wouldn't sell much less if it would be shipped with S40.
When i look at my friends/parents. A lot of these use S60 devices these days. They where sold to the average phone user. Most of them just use it just to make phone calls, write sms, using the camera, contacts just for phone numbers. Most of some aren't even aware of having a smartphone with the ability to do much more (installing aplications, browsing the web, writing emails) and they couldn't care less about these features. They just use it as normal feature phone. They do not need a smartphone. For them a N72 is just like all the other Mulitmedia feature phones like the ones from SE or Samsung for example.
Looking at the Windows Mobile buyers this is much differnt. Nearly all of them buys them just because they are WM Smartphones. They are all quite aware that they are buying a smartphone with a microsoft os on it. And in the buisness market, MS position is much better than Nokias. Windows Mobile does integrate much better in the normal Windows environment.
Sure nokia has the E-Series but the best selling one here is the E51. Again a phone that apeals to the average phone user (good price, small in size, music player features, camera). A friend of mine just got this phone, she doesn't even know that she bought a "buisness" smartphone. For her it is just a phone with camera, music player which looks nice for a good price.
For the real smartphone users (the users on this site for example) the apple iphone is not really an alternative. It looks nice and is really good for web browsing with its touchscreen ui (at least when a new version comes with UMTS/HSDPA). But a S60 User will miss a lot of features.
If the iPhone would not be that expensive and not bundled to a really expensive contract (at least that is the case in germany) for the average user of a N95, E51 and so on, the iPhone would do better and a lot of them would get this if it were cheaper.
So i believe the one how really should do something is not microsoft but Nokia.
That all is btw the explanation why Windows Mobile Software does sell better then S60 Software. Most of S60 Users don't know about that and doesn't need it. WM Users are just Smartphone users and about 90% of them are interested in using third party software.
So, even if my english is bad, i hope i made my point clear.
Im am really interessted to know what you think about that.
"Most of them just use it just to make phone calls, write sms, using the camera, contacts just for phone numbers. Most of some aren't even aware of having a smartphone with the ability to do much more (installing aplications, browsing the web, writing emails) and they couldn't care less about these features. They just use it as normal feature phone. They do not need a smartphone. For them a N72 is just like all the other Mulitmedia feature phones like the ones from SE or Samsung for example."
Just like most WinXP users are just using it for web, games and email, and have no idea they can install high-end video editing software, teach themselves foreign languages or calculate pi to 10 million places.
Lucky for the rest of us, they are out there keeping the computer industry alive. And don't forget, as we show off all the cool applications we install, at some point we're likely to strike and get them to look at the Download! page.
This doesn't surprise me since the P990i was way too early released and Sony Ericsson never did get their act together to remedy this substantially flawed OS.
I never, repeat never, buy a Sony Ericsson UIQ again.
Paul
DanielW wrote:I don't think the iPhone could be called Smartphone.What makes a Smartphone is in my point of view the ability to install native 3rd-Party Software.
A smartphone is a smartphone when the buyer buys it with the purpose of installing extra software on it. In that respect, the iPhone/iPod Touch might very well be though of as a smartphone, if it turns out that lots of software is going to be sold for it.
Sander van der Wal
www.mBrainSoftware.com
I got a little tired from reading that "iPhone no smartphone because no 3rd party apps" argument many times, and I am happy that very soon the advent of the public iPhone SDK will put it to rest.
Or maybe not, maybe the iPhone SDK will come with such high barriers to market for applications built with it, e.g. very strict testing and expensive signing requirements, that people will *still* be able to argue "iPhone no smartphone because no easy and cheap 3rd party apps".
The iPhone is important whichever way you look at it: If it is no smartphone, and never will be, even then in most cases an iPhone buyer is one potential buyer of a "real" smartphone less, and therefore impacts me as a 3rd party developer. And if the iPhone is a smartphone after all, it *also* impacts me as a 3rd party developer, because I have to care about one platform more.
Take it easy on Apple.
In one swoop a child, elderly and a chimp can make a call, easily. The price is high, as much as E90 and under contract even more (if un-cracked) but it's noteworthy.
My 15 year-old son has 10 charactors in World of Warcraft on their maximum level. Does that make him "smarter"?
He says it's like school work and..umm school work.
Two sets of different kinds of required tasks.
Symbian os is much more advanced (yes, and better) And far more complicated. Old folks aren't forum trollers looking for add-on apps. And even my wife throws her E60 work phone at me on occasion to un-bug. And it's "bare bones" compared to my commie (which btw is an ongoing growth experience) and my "everyday" apps.
The article about the learning curve of different phones/os not too long ago on AAS was very informative. Maybe AAS should post it again.
Anyway, good luck and happy learning on whatever you use 😊