IDC: Android partners post highest growth rates

MANILA, Philippines - Whether it’s pure market acceptance or lots of hype, IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker reveals that Google’s Android mobile operating system is responsible for the higher growth rates that its smartphone partners enjoyed during the second quarter.

Except Nokia, of course, which doggedly refuses to embrace Android because it will rely instead on another open-source Linux-based OS called MeeGo to power its upcoming smartphones.

But first the stats: IDC said the worldwide smartphone market grew 50 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2010 (2Q10) driven in large part by Android-based smartphones that shipped a total of 63 million units in 2Q10, compared to 41.9 million units in 2Q09; HTC and Samsung posted the highest growth rates in the smartphone space during 2Q10; and four of the top 10 vendors, all of whom predominantly ship Android-powered smartphones, posted year-over-year growth rates over 100 percent.

“Emerging smartphone suppliers, such as HTC, that are allied closely with Google gained share at the expense of the historic top smartphone players last quarter,” said Kevin Revin Restivo, senior research analyst of IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker program. “This is largely a result of greater consumer interest in smartphones generally and Android devices in particular.”

Is MeeGo a no-go?

Overall, Nokia is still No. 1 with 38.1 percent smartphone market share during 2Q10. However, that is down from 40.3 percent during the same period last year, based on IDC’s estimates.

Nokia maintained its strong presence within the entry-level and mid-range segments of the smartphone market, but it faced tough competition in the high-end space where it is trying to differentiate itself by not surrendering to Google’s Android which Nokia argued won’t give them much freedom to add value to it.

Instead, Nokia hopes to create more value and hopefully recapture what market it lost so far from Android systems by using the upcoming Symbian^3-powered N8 and its new MeeGo operating systems.  

Industry watchers, however, have differing views on Nokia’s strategy. Some say it would be an uphill battle getting public acceptance for MeeGo, a new and unproven OS entering an already saturated market full of Android, iOS, and BlackBerry OS smartphones.

Others counter this by saying there’s room for another OS and that no one can predict the success or failure of a yet-to-be-released OS.

Samsung, HTC, LG and other makers of Android-based smartphones keep highlighting the fact that there is a vast sea of free applications written for Android that are available to their consumers now.

There are also critics who say third-party developers may not support or devote new resources to yet another OS like Meego.

Nokia fans argue that Meego currently lacks applications because it’s still not commercially out. One pro-Meego post on the Web reads: “Nokia is positioning itself nicely by building common core code across multiple use cases, like netbooks, tablets, automobiles, and handsets. It uses a common toolkit to accomplish all that (QT). That means with hardly any extra effort developers will be able to code for Symbian, Linux, and all flavors of MeeGo at the same time. Furthermore it is based on Moblin Linux and should they so choose, software developers will have an easy time porting to MeeGo.”

Nokia supporters also love to emphasize that Android, though open source, is bound to Java whereas MeeGo is open to all GNU technologies including RedHat, Ubuntu, and SuSE. Once Nokia makes a go of it, they believe it would also catch fire as quick as Android did.

Whether MeeGo is truly a Linux administrator and Linux developer’s dream, as many claim it to be, would the end-users even care? Amid all the heated online exchanges among geeks arguing about Android’s and MeeGo’s superiority over the other, there are those who choose to look at the business side of it as exemplified by this post:

Dear Nokia,

Adopt Android. Beat estimates by a long shot. Keep investors happy. When iPhone hits Verizon, you WILL have to adapt or fall short.

Love,

An Economist

Posted By Economist, Raleigh NC: August 9, 2010 10:30 PM

Market outlook

For the first half of 2010, vendors shipped a total of 118.3 million units, up 54 percent from the 76.8 million units shipped during the first half of 2009. IDC sees no reason why it won’t continue to be lucrative for smartphone players for the next half of the year.

“That more smartphone models will be launched is a given, but just as important is the anticipated launch of several refreshed operating systems. Both BlackBerry and Symbian^3 are poised with fresh, yet familiar experiences while Windows Phone 7 promises a complete break from previous versions. All these are expected to launch in the second half of 2010, and their reception among end-users will indicate their future in this fast-growing segment of the market for 2011 and beyond,” said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team.