Smartphones and tablets drive convergence shake-up in consumer electronics

USA: The explosive growth of the smartphone market has dramatically underscored the critical role of convergence in today’s consumer electronics market, and positioned smart devices as critical to the future of the global Consumer Electronics industry.

According to IMS Research, the leading independent provider of market research and consultancy to the global electronics industry, by 2015 smartphones will represent over half of all app-enabled gaming, and navigation consumer devices shipped.
The broad range of convergence functions that are incorporated, coupled with the ability to download apps to address a diverse set of consumer needs, have positioned smartphones as the ‘replacement’ for many stand-alone devices.Source: IMS Research, USA.

“We have already seen the dramatic impact that smartphones have had on stand-alone CE devices, eating into sales for navigation devices, media players, portable game consoles, and digital cameras,” says Bill Morelli, research director with IMS Research’s Convergence Group. “Now we are seeing the larger CE manufacturers such as Samsung and Microsoft working to integrate smartphones even more tightly into their home entertainment strategies.”

The main impact of smartphones on home entertainment devices is an increased focus from the hardware manufacturers and service providers on how to support multiple displays, and integrate smartphones into the user experience. Initial efforts focused on content transfer between CE devices, such as the set-top box or television and the smartphone.

However, companies are now looking at new ways of making the user experience more dynamic. Some examples include being able to interact with BD Live content while watching a Blu-ray Disc in a home theater, or integrating social media streams from a smartphone with a TV program.

The increasing importance of smartphones to the future of the CE market was highlighted by Sony’s recent buyout of Ericsson to bring its smartphone joint venture back in-house. According to Morelli, “The smartphone market is one of the most competitive markets in the world, and entry for new players is extremely difficult. Companies that are interested in pursuing a convergence strategy are now actively trying to determine the best way forward, whether through strategic partnerships (Nokia-Microsoft), or through acquisition of one of the remaining smartphone manufacturers (Google-Motorola).”

However, he cautions that convergence strategies are complex, and just making an acquisition is not sufficient to guarantee success, as HP learned with its webOS purchase last year.