Android key to defining mobile experience from operators

BOSTON, USA: Due to the rise of mobile internet and its associated revenue opportunities, cell phone carriers are trying to wrestle control of the user experience away from device manufacturers.

Operators are focusing on open operating systems, such as Google’s Android, which allow them greater design input, and create additional revenue opportunities from application downloads.

The next big advance in mobile user experience will come from digital home convergence. These findings were based on interviews conducted with cell phone operators in the US and Western Europe. Details may be found in the Strategy Analytics Wireless Media Labs report, “Mobile Operators Aiming for Control and Convergence of the User Experience.”

“Cell phone carriers still face many barriers to delivery of an optimal user experience,” commented Chris Schreiner, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics. “Organizational structures that do not foster communication between different product and service groups are a major obstacle to developing a holistic experience.”

Kevin Nolan, Vice President in the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice, added, "Operators that offer so-called ‘Triple Play’ packages combining broadband, TV and cell phones, have an immediate head start on the ability to make the next leap in mobile user experience into the digital home.”

Modest mobile growth in emerging markets

BOSTON, USA: The worst effects of the global recession may be over for mobile communications in emerging markets. Second quarter results from major operators in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe show modest growth in subscriptions and usage, according to the recent report from Strategy Analytics, “Emerging Markets and the Financial Crisis at Midyear: Light in the Middle of the Tunnel.”

After three successive flat or declining quarters, average minutes of use (MOU) for a basket of 26 key operators climbed a respectable 5 percent in Q2 2009, a rate not seen since the same period in 2008. Total subscriptions rose 4 percent, continuing a recovering trend begun in the first quarter of the year.

“Don’'t open the champagne quite yet,” cautions Tom Elliott, director of the Emerging Markets Communications Strategies service and author of the report. “There is still a lot of potential weakness in these markets.” Handset sales remain well below the levels of a year ago, and many operators have been unable to convert growth in subscriptions and traffic into increased revenue.

Emerging market economies also remain highly dependent on conditions in the developed world; and the pace those recoveries can affect key factors like demand for commodity products, foreign aid and home-bound remittances from overseas workers.

Noting that the global crisis has debunked the myth that developed and developing economies have been decoupled, Harvey Cohen, President of Strategy Analytics, says: “Growth of communications activity is a good indicator of economic health, particularly at the so-called ‘bottom of the pyramid.’ If you don’t have the money you’re not going to buy that phone, or make that extra call.”

World’s top 10 most fiber broadband-enabled countries -- Singapore to overtake South Korea as fiber leader!

BOSTON, USA: “The future of broadband is clearly in fiber,” according to analyst, Ben Piper, Director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics service. “The existing Telco xDSL infrastructure is reaching the end of its useful life. Soon it will no longer be able to support increasingly bandwidth-heavy consumer applications.”

Table: Source -- Strategy Analytics
Rankings just released by Strategy Analytics show that eight of the world’s top 10 most fiber broadband-enabled countries are Asian and Eastern European.

At the end of 2009, 51 percent of South Korean households will have a fiber connection, making it the most fiber-connected country worldwide. Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Lithuania round out the top five in the firm’s rankings.

Singapore will overtake South Korea for the number one position by 2013, according to Strategy Analytics. Part of the Singaporean government's “iN2015” initiative is the construction of a 1 Gbps Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network, currently underway, with mandated 100% coverage by January 1, 2013.

Likewise, Australia, which this year launched its $31 billion National Broadband Network (NBN), will catapult from 21st to 8th place worldwide by 2013, according to Strategy Analytics. The government-backed FTTP based solution aims to deliver 100 Mbps FTTP service to 90% of Australian households, schools, and businesses over the next eight years.

Strategy Analytics’ Global Broadband Forecast: 1H’09 provides coverage 60 countries in five discrete regions, and provides history and forecasts for key metrics including: Households, PC Penetration, Internet Access Subscriptions, Household Internet Access Penetration, Broadband Subscriptions, Household Broadband Access Penetration, Broadband Users, Dial-up vs Broadband splits, Service Revenues, ARPU, and Subscriptions by Technology Platform (xDSL, Cable,FTTx, and FWA / WiMax).

Symbian's dominance fading, says Strategy Analytics

BOSTON, USA:The high R&D costs involved in developing a brand new mobile OS –- and building an ecosystem around it -– could potentially consolidate the smartphone OS market, according to the Strategy Analytics Handset Component Technologies service report, “Symbian's Dominance Fading as Mobile Software Platform Market Becomes More Crowded.”

However, this doesn’t mean that the door is closed for new entrants, and Strategy Analytics predicts that Nokia’s Linux based Maemo platform could potentially feature in future smartphones.

The majority of smartphone manufacturers lack their own OS and ecosystems, and are using a common platform to rapidly build market share in the high-growth smartphone market.

Stuart Robinson, Director of the company’s Handset Component Technologies service commented: “Strategy Analytics believes that smartphone Operating Systems with a strong consumer focus and a strong R&D budget will sustain competitive advantages and take huge market share in the future. In this respect, we place our bets on Android, iPhone OS and Symbian.”

Sravan Kundojjala, Analyst, adds: “Strategy Analytics estimates that smartphone OS vendors currently spend $100-$200 million on R&D on average. This, along with the arduous work involved in creating an ecosystem around the OS, could potentially force handset vendors to consolidate their efforts around one or two third-party licensable Operating Systems.”

Global handset shipments fall 8pc in Q2-09, but showing signs of recovery

BOSTON, USA: According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global mobile handset shipments fell 8 percent year-over-year, to reach 273 million units in Q2 2009. The rate of decline was slower than the previous quarter, as the market showed tentative signs of stabilization.

Bonny Joy, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics said: "Global mobile handset shipments fell to 273 million units during Q2 2009, down 8 percent from 297 million units in Q2 2008. The eight-percent shrinkage was a noticeable improvement on the huge declines recorded of minus 14 percent in Q1 2009 and minus 11 percent during Q4 2008."

Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added: "We believe the relative upturn in the global handset market has been driven by improved consumer confidence in some regions, such as China, and by partial restocking of some retailers’ depleted supplies.

"Growth is certainly still available for those handset makers with compelling products and strong brands. For example, Samsung grew worldwide shipments a healthy 14% during the quarter, as consumers and carriers showed high interest in their touchphone models, such as Star and Jet."

Other findings from Strategy Analytics’ Q2 2009 Global Handset Market Share Update report include:

* LG Electronics shipped 29.8 million handsets worldwide during Q2 2009, for a record marketshare of 11 percent. An attractive portfolio of touchscreen QWERTY phones and increased distribution channels have been among the drivers of its success;

* Motorola shipped a better-than-expected 14.8 million handsets worldwide in Q2 2009, for 5 Global handset shipments fall 8pc in Q2-09, but showing signs of recovery marketshare.

The operating margin for its handset division improved sequentially and an aggressive cost-cutting program is benefiting the company;

* Apple shipped a better-than-expected 5.2 million iPhones worldwide in Q2 2009, for 1.9 percent marketshare. Apple launched its new 3GS model during the quarter and we believe Apple is developing a rolling pattern of one-year upgrade-cycles for its flagship iPhone family in an attempt to drive higher replacement rates among consumers.Source: Strategy Analytics

GPS smartphone shipments to reach 77mn units in 2009

BOSTON, USA: According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, worldwide GPS smartphone shipments will grow 34 percent from 57 million units in 2008 to 77 million units in 2009.

GPS adoption in smartphones is being fueled by widespread consumer acceptance of portable navigation devices in Europe and the United States, and the increasing presence of mapping applications among mobile vendors such as Nokia, Apple and Blackberry.

Joanne Blight, Navigation Director at Strategy Analytics, said, "We forecast worldwide GPS smartphone shipments will grow a healthy 34 percent from 57 million units in 2008 to 77 million units in 2009. GPS smartphones, such as the Nokia N97 and Apple iPhone, are a high-growth segment that continues to expand even during the current, tough economic times.”

Neil Mawston, Wireless Director at Strategy Analytics, added, "Two key factors are fueling the adoption of GPS smartphones. First, there is widespread consumer acceptance of portable in-vehicle navigation devices from companies such as TomTom and Garmin in Europe and the United States. Second, mobile navigation services are improving. There is an increasing presence of mapping applications among major smartphone vendors, such as Nokia Maps, Apple Google Maps and Blackberry Maps.”

The full report containing further analysis on this emerging topic, called the GPS Smartphone Marketshare Tracker, is published by the Strategy Analytics Navigation and Location Opportunities (NLO) service.

Mobile phone users interested in unified messaging, contact lists

BOSTON, USA: The recent Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Lab benchmark report, “Unified Contact Lists and Unified Messaging Must be Customizable,” evaluates users' current habits related to contact management and messaging, and measures interest in having a unified contact list and unified inbox on their mobile phone.

High-volume mobile messaging users are interested in having both a unified contact list and a unified messaging inbox on their mobile device, as long as these features are customizable, and therefore more personalized.

“When considering a unified contact list, users do not want to incorporate all contacts from all accounts into one list”, according to Paul Brown, Senior Analyst in the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice. “They want to select which contacts to import, particularly from social networking accounts, so that they can easily identify details of those individuals with whom they have regular one-to-one communication.”

Christopher Dodge, Analyst at Strategy Analytics, added, “Promoting the ability to revert back to a traditional inbox layout will overcome reluctance to trial a unified approach.”

Asia Pacific broadband to grow 21 percent in 2009

BOSTON, USA: The Asia Pacific (APAC) broadband market ended 2008 with 158 million broadband subscriptions, and will grow an additional 21 percent in 2009, according to a report just published by analyst firm Strategy Analytics.

The report, “Asia Pacific Broadband Forecast: 1H’2009,” estimates that broadband subscriptions for the region will surpass 394 million by 2013.

“Broadband in APAC is really a tale of two regions,” said Ben Piper, Analyst and Director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics service.

“On one hand, highly developed markets, such as South Korea, Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong, lead the world in broadband penetration and fiber deployment. Meanwhile, three of the world’s most populous countries, (China, India, and Indonesia), representing 40 percent of global population, have household broadband penetration rates below 21 percent.”

Household broadband penetration at the APAC regional level remains quite low at 17 percent; however this will reach 39 percent by 2013, according to the report.

“While DSL remains the dominant access technology in the region, it will increasingly give way to fiber and WiMax, which together will account for over 40 percent of all connections by 2013,” said David Mercer, Vice-President of the Strategy Analytics Digital Consumer Practice.

Palm Pre promising debut

BOSTON, USA: The recent Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Lab benchmark report, “Mobile Device User Evaluation: Palm Pre,” evaluates the recently launched Palm Pre across a number of core and new features, including contact management, messaging, imaging, music and web browsing.

The Palm Pre performed well for most tasks, while users were impressed by the ‘activity card’ style user interface. Palm Synergy, which allows users to integrate multiple calendar and contact accounts, was seen to be useful, as long as users could choose which accounts they add.

“The lack of an on-screen virtual keyboard was a concern for many participants,” according to Paul Brown, Senior Analyst in the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice. “Although users liked having a physical QWERTY keyboard, they did not want to have to slide it out every time they wanted to type something.”

Kevin Nolan, Vice President at Strategy Analytics, added: “Participants considered the multi-tasking capabilities of the Pre to provide a very positive experience, similar to that of multi-tasking on a PC.”

iPhone 3G S -- improved user experience, same old hardware!

BOSTON, USA: With the launch of the Apple iPhone 3G S, and the repositioning of the iPhone 3G as a device targeted to more mainstream mobile device buyers, Strategy Analytics believes that Apple has missed an opportunity to more effectively broaden the appeal of its iPhone portfolio.

In a new report, “iPhone 3G S: New Improved UX, Same Old Hardware,” Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Lab research team argues that Apple’s strategy fails to tailor the size and physical interface of its device to the needs of segments outside of its primary target group.

Kevin Nolan, Vice President of the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice, said: "Phone size is a key factor in the mobile device purchasing decision for 84 percent of mid-tier mobile phone buyers. Strategy Analytics believes that the iPhone is above the upper size preference threshold for many of these consumers.

"Until Apple adds a physical QWERTY keyboard, the iPhone will trail devices such as the Palm Pre for the mobile messaging experience."

Paul Brown, Senior Analyst, added, "While the numerous enhancements to the iPhone 3G S are likely to solidify Apple’s position as a provider of the premier mobile user experience, we believe that the company’s strategy for expanding its dominance outside of its core target audience is insufficient."

Android smartphone shipments to grow 900 percent in 2009

BOSTON, USA: According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global Android smartphone shipments will grow 900 percent in 2009. Healthy support from operators, vendors and developers is driving adoption. Apple iPhone OS will be the next fastest-growing smartphone operating system in 2009, with a 79 percent growth rate.

Tom Kang, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics, said: "We forecast global Android smartphone shipments to grow an impressive 900 percent annually during 2009. The Android mobile operating system from Google gained early traction in the United States in the second half of 2008 and it is gradually spreading its presence into Europe and Asia during 2009. Android is expanding from a low base and it is consequently outgrowing the iPhone OS from Apple, which we estimate will grow at a relatively lower 79 percent annually in 2009."

Neil Mawston, Director at Strategy Analytics, added: "Android has fast been winning healthy support among operators, vendors and developers. A relatively low-cost licensing model, its semi-open-source structure and Google's support for cloud services have encouraged companies such as HTC, Motorola, Samsung, T Mobile, Vodafone and others to support the Android operating system. Android is now in a good position to become a top-tier player in smartphones over the next two to three years."

Operators lose prime position for LBS

BOSTON, USA: Wireless carriers are increasingly losing control of location-based service provision to Internet companies such as Google and Yahoo, and to handset vendors like Nokia, according to “Location-Based Services: Opportunities within an Emerging Battleground,” the latest report from the Strategy Analytics Wireless Media Strategies Service.

Operators have focused primarily on navigation, people locators and ‘find the nearest’ services, but struggled to drive location service adoption for each of these categories.

However, the development of cell tower databases by companies such as Google and Skyhook, along with the integration of location APIs onto handsets, has enabled the development of a diverse set of location applications for distribution through popular channels, such as Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Marketplace.

“Strategy Analytics expects that these elements, combined with greater GPS handset ownership and data plan adoption, will trigger growth in location-based service revenues from $650 million at the end of 2008 to almost $8 billion by 2013,” comments Nitesh Patel, Senior Analyst, Wireless Media Strategies, at Strategy Analytics.

Over 80 percent of these location revenues will come from location-enabled search and voice-guided navigation applications.

This report also identifies Google and Nokia as significant threats to carrier ambitions. David MacQueen, Director at Strategy Analytics, added: “Nokia has made significant moves in location-based services through its acquisition of mapping data provider, Navteq, and smaller companies, such as Plazes and bit-side. Nokia’s significant handset market share, combined with its ability to integrate location applications onto its handsets, places it in a strong position to compete with carrier and internet brands for ownership of location service users. Similarly, Google’s significant brand strength and carrier independent location positioning database threatens to disintermediate the operator from the location services value chain.”