Bad News If You Have A Microsoft 7 'Swiss Army' Smartphone

The smartphone is getting smarter and and as we all migrate to the platform its usage changes significantly such that a recent survey of O2 customers claims users spend twice as much time browsing the web, and also they spend more time checking social networking sites, playing app-based games and listening to music than they do making calls. Checking Emails now follows making calls followed by text messaging, watching TV and films and reading books and taking pictures. The smartphone is becoming the device that now not only connects people but is rapidly becoming even as important as your wallet which it could even replace soon.

However it is still an evolving technology and no one can claim that they have found the mobile solution for the future, just the one for today. We are all aware that Blackberry is going out of fashion and running out of puff. It had a good run, created the mobile email world we now all live in, but somehow never moved on. Apple continues to be the design icon and tablet solution to have and despite all the denials, looks to be on the path to converging the iPhone and current tablet with the first step being a smaller tablet later this year. Android is no longer a contender, but the player who is the winning the marketshare and claiming just over 50% share. And then there is Microsoft who promises lots and just delivers confusion.

The issue often in the marketplace is fragmentation. This is were the underlying operating system is not uniform across the market and this is exacerbated by devices taking a specific release and developing on it and so potentially restricting their ability to be upward compatible with future releases. Amazon’s adoption of Android is an example of this. However trying to keep all devices, apps all compatible with a rapidly developing OS can be a challenge unless like Apple everything is from the same stable and brings other issues.

The company that once again appears to be lost is Microsoft with its mobile OS offer. First there was a company desperate to catch up with the others and with windows 7 to launched their platform to compete. They even got the other lost soul, Nokia, to effectively drop their OS hot-potch of an offer and come on board. Nokia Lumia was heralded as the new benchmark, the new platform, the new dawn. Now Microsoft have dumped Windows 7 and started again with Windows 8. Its not upward compatible and so those who bought the Windows 7 package effectively bought a pup that would always stay as a pup.

Windows Phone 8 is a clean break with Windows Phone 7, which only launched in autumn 2010 as a clean break from Windows whatever. Importantly for developers and users it has a completely new kernel and no forward compatibility for apps and built specifically for Windows Phone 8 won't run on 7.8 devices. Microsoft obviously could wait until windows 8 so brought out windows 7, but the question is, how long Microsoft knew that they were effectively selling a dead end road, as its certain that Windows 8 didn’t drop out of the sky overnight!

So as we all get more hooked on our smartphones and as they become the true mobile ‘swiss army knife’ we only need to be careful that our attachment to any one device or OS is limited to our contract term and expect to change sides as loyalty will not to always be rewarded.

Google Android Is Number 1

According to research firm Canalys, Google Android is now the No.1 mobile operating system in the world,.

The claim is made in a new report from Canalys and states that 32.9 million Android-based phones shipped worldwide in the fourth quarter. That is greater than the 31 million Symbian-based phones that shipped over the same period. The rise in take up of Android is breathtaking with a growth from just 9% to 33% in year on year figures!
Symbian has dropped from 44.4% to 30.6% market share, whilst Apple achieved 16.2 million or 16% share and in forth place RIM 14.6 million and 14.4% share.

Meanwhile Microsoft has clearly lost what ground it had and only achieved 3.1million compared with 3.9m in Q4 2009. Its also worth noting that some 2 million of these were Windows Phone 7 OS which clearly indicates that it isn’t making the impact they desired and a third of shipments were still on the old Windows Mobile OS.

Not only is this the first time Symbian has been overtaken but it seriously questions where Nokia are going and whether they are losing their grip of this new smartphone market. It also shows the brilliant strategy adopted by Google to focus on the system and not try to create a one stop environment. It reminds us of that killer move Microsoft made against Mac way back when Windows was accepted by all the manufacturers and Mac was let by itself.

Google first unveiled Android in late 2007 and was widely accepted by carriers and manufacturers alike. Google are currently working on 3.0 version of the Android platform, which is being configured specifically to run on touchscreen tablet computers. They again have chosen an inclusive approach.

Microsoft Out To Spoil The Rise of Android

Microsoft has reportedly come up with a new way to compete with Google and that is to charge royalty fees to prevent the likes of Acer from adopting Android and Chrome OS in their netbook and tablet offerings. Interestingly, Microsoft has chosen to charge the manufacturers and avoid a direct fight with Google.

Microsoft plans to impose royalties of US$10 to $15 per handset "for using its patents in e-mail, multimedia and other functions." HTC is apparently paying the fees and some suggest that is because it was cheaper than a lawsuit and that could retrieve the money from Windows Phone 7 licensing deals.

So why is the open source market so upset by this latest move by Microsoft? The answer is that the royalty is claimed against patent usage not the software used as the software is open source and has not licence fees!

Today everyone is patenting the future, and then suing when everyone makes it to the obvious next step. Microsoft has already been found guilty of predatory practices in violation of anti-trust law and some would suggest it's patents could become unenforceable if they are found to be abusing them. Some suggest Microsoft is aiming to head off what seems a tide of manufacturers adopting Linux OS on mobiles, netbook and tablet devices. If Microsoft loses this new market it will be severely restricted to the PC segment and their operating system monopoly.

Microsoft’s big problem is that they have to support layers of legacy. Today nobody needs to upgrade their OS to the latest Microsoft offer except when they buy a new computer. This breaks their old model and significantly dilutes the opportunity to pull through an Office upgrade sale.

So we now have Windows 7 and importantly Windows Phone 7. Will Microsoft succeed in thwarting the Google movement or are we starting to see the real demise of a technology giant of yesterday?

Are Symbian’s Days numbered?

Symbian once ruled to mobile waves and was the operating system used by the major players. Then Nokia acquired it and ‘opened it up for all’

The problem was all the new players had their own systems and these were better. Blackberry, Apple and Palm all started to show the direction then there was the dark horse Android. Now even Nokia appear to be backing many horses; Symbian, Linux, and Windows. Microsoft themselves have realise that they must reinvent themselves to survive and Google have clearly captured the world outside Apple.

Now Samsung have hammered another nail in the Symbian coffin in launching their BADA mobile platform ,which means "ocean", to underpin its application offer. Samsung phones will be using Android for high-end consumers and retaining Windows Mobile as it still has the edge in the enterprise, while the new Bada platform will fill that mid-range feature-phone market. Many of the Bada details have still to be disclosed, but it is likely to support widget-based applications similar to the Palm's Pre.

The underlying story still remains – Symbian appears to be losing influence, support and backers.

Smartphone App Wars

Who will win the mobile app store battles and the associated operating system wars?
Samsung will launch a mobile application store in Europe on Sept. 14 for its Omnia smartphones. They join iPhone, Nokia’s Ovi, Rim/Blackberry and Palm Pre stores and as many operating system battles, carrier exclusives and even device showdowns.

In August Samsung released its mobile widget software development kit (SDK) and its Application Seller Site a month earlier. Users will initially be able to select from about 300 apps, including games and e-readers and they predict that this will increase to around 2,000 by the end of the year. Their SDK is different in that it will let developers create widgets for different Samsung phones using different operating systems, including the company's own proprietary OS.

Nokia is the market leader in terms of phones, smartphones and mobile but has struggled to get third-party developers to develop applications for their phones. They are not alone, after all why do you want to develop 4 apps that each have to be maintained and may not all earn out?

Then we have the formidable LG Electronics, which in July launched an online store for mobile phone applications.

Finally we have Microsoft who is hoping the launch in October of its new mobile phone software, will revive its flagging position in this lucrative market. Today they are estimated to have some 9% share against the 14.3% they enjoyed only a year ago. They are behind RIM’s 20.9% and Apple’s growing 13.7% and a long way behind Nokia’s 45%.

Microsoft’s big card is its ability to run Windows Mobile Office productivity apps such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. But is that enough and a strong enough differentiator today? They claim a trusted brand but is it it trusted enough and although they can line up all the big guns in support we think it too late, too tired and somehow lacking. Will it fully support touch and compete with the new touch environment.

What is clear is that consumers need to keep their options open in what is a dynamic market.

Nokia Buys Symbian

Nokia will pay $410 million to fully aquire UK-based mobile phone operating system owner Symbian. This is a major move and clearly throws the gauntlet down in the mobile operating system market.

It has also announced that it plans to make the software, which is used in two-thirds of smartphones, available for free. Smartphones are the emerging market with Google to launch their Andriod and Apple’s recently announced upgraded iPhone and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile all contending for this growing space.

Nokia, which makes 40% of all phones sold globally, will pay E264 million for the 52% of Symbian it does not already own. Many of the leading mobile manufactures use Symbian and those with stakes in the company, such as; Sony Ericsson, Ericsson, Panasonic and Siemens have accepted the offer for their shares.

Nokia now plan to develop the platform and establish a common operating system and user interface and the operating system and user interface battle win be an interesting one as Nokia and the manufactures square up to the PC ‘downsizers’. Many of the current mobile offers look and feel clunky and the real test will be developing the right user experience and interestingly this today is being lead not by Symbian but the likes of Apple.