Huge Slump in Smartphone Market Share - Can Microsoft Reinvent Itself?

When you take a close look at the smartphone market, you will notice something strange. Experts often talk about what is possibly the most popular smartphone available today – the Apple iPhone. They talk about how Google Android could give Apple a tough competition. They talk about Symbian and they talk about Blackberry. They even talk about recently released smartphones like Motorola Cliq and Droid. One name that is conspicuously missing from this list is Microsoft’s Windows Mobile.

It is really surprising. After all, Microsoft entered the smartphone market long back – Pocket PC 2002, the predecessor of Windows Mobile OS, was released in 2002. Soon, Windows Mobile was released in 2003. What has Microsoft managed to achieve in the past six years? The answer is – nothing worthwhile.

Windows Mobile, as of now, is the fourth most used mobile operating system in the world. Nokia with its Symbian OS is the market leader – followed by Blackberry and the iPhone. Experts, however, predict that it might not be able to stay at that spot for long. When you take a good look at the numbers, you get the feeling that what they predict might actually come true.

In the first quarter of 2004, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile had an envious 23% share in the smartphone market. In the first quarter of 2005, there was a steady decline and its market share was somewhere around 18%. In the first quarter of 2006, it further slumped and remained with a market share of 12%. In 2008, its market share dropped to 14%. At the start of 2009, it slumped further and remained at 7.9%. If we go by the recent report from AdMob, Microsoft’s market share, as of now, is only somewhere around 4%.

It is quite a slide – from 23% market share to 4% market share in a span of just five years. In the mean time, Apple, Nokia, RIM, and even Google have made their presence felt in the market big time.

It is really hard to believe. After all, Microsoft has got everything - all the money in the world, some of the brightest minds in the world, and plenty of goodwill. Yet, it has not been able to conquer the mobile market like it conquered the PC market. While late entrants like Apple and Google have been able to generate a big buzz, Microsoft has not been able to do anything that is worth taking notice.

Apple iPhone continues to climb the ladder and even new entrants like Motorola Droid have managed to create a big buzz. With this being the case, Microsoft’s only bet is Windows Mobile 7 OS – which incorporates the elements of Windows Mobile 6.5 and Zune – which is slated for release in 2010.

The mobile phone industry, the smartphone market in particular, is expected to grow bigger by the day. Mobile advertising, as we all know, is set to grow big as well. The time is ripe and the competition is intense. The question is – can Microsoft pull it off?

Categories: All things mobile phones, Microsoft.

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Google becomes the default search engine on Opera mobile browser

From now on, Opera Mobile users and Opera Mini users will see a default Google search bar on the start page. Opera and Google recently got into an agreement wherein Google will be the default search engine in both Opera Mobile and Opera Mini mobile browsers. In case you don’t know, Opera Mobile is the mobile browser for smartphones and PDAs and Opera Mini is the mobile browser for low-end mobile phones.

Interestingly, Yahoo was the one who partnered with Opera last year to make it the default search engine in Opera mobile browser. But now both Yahoo and Opera have called off the agreement and Google has used this opportunity to its advantage.

This would be a fruitful partnership for Google, as Opera mobile browser is used by tens of millions of users all over the world. If you remember, Yahoo became the default search engine for T-Mobile in Europe some time back, replacing Google. Now, Google has replaced Yahoo and has become the default search engine for Opera. This, as they say, is competition at its best.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Google, All things mobile phones.

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Apple in 2007 - A review

Apple iPhone was without a doubt the most anticipated product of the year 2007. The hype that preceded iPhone was so enormous that I think even Apple wouldn’t have expected it, considering the fact that it was a newcomer in the cellphone market. When launched, Apple iPhone simply broke all the records and went on to sell a whopping 270,000 pieces in just about 30 hours of its release. Windows Mobile 6, which was launched a few weeks before the iPhone was nowhere in the picture.

It got good, positive reviews from the market and Apple was more than happy. It was even named the “Invention of the year” by Time magazine. Though it started off really well, iPhone has managed the sales figures of around 1.39 million pieces later this year, which reflects the fact that the sales has actually slowed down considerably. There could be two reasons for this – firstly, Windows Mobile 6, though a silent contender in the market, has sold out a lot more than the iPhone in the market and secondly, Google came up with Android and took the market by storm. I’ve already stated how Google Android could mean the end of iPhone’s dominance in the market. Still, Apple expects to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 and considering its sales figures all over, I think it might be an achievable target.

As far as cellphone advertising industry is concerned, Apple iPhone means good news as it has the potential to take mobile surfing experience and mobile video experience to a whole new level. With more and more smartphones entering the market, cellphone advertising could become a lot more effective, as surfing on your mobile phone will become a lot easier and it will in turn make it easier for the advertisers to reach out their target customers through mobile web pages.

Categories: Apple iPhone.

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Mobile advertising industry’s growth rate - Real or hype?

When a leading research firm like Gartner says that mobile advertising industry it going to be huge, we all take notice; don’t we? Especially, when it says the industry is going to rake in over $11 billion in revenues by 2011, it’s bound to make news. Which is exactly what has happened.

Brian White in his analysis has questioned the logic behind the prediction of Gartner and has asked a few questions which are thought-provoking. First of all, no one can deny that mobile advertising and marketing has become one of the most noted industries today and has a big future. As of now, the industry is worth well over $1 billion. But the question that is raised in the article is that on what basis the research firm has predicted that the revenue will increase tenfold in just about four years. Good question; I should say. Also, he has raised a point about mobile browsing being a complex experience for everyone but people who use smartphones like Blackberry, iPhone, and the like. So, he finally finishes by saying that while mobile advertising will reach those numbers, it will not happen that soon.

Well; I don’t know on what basis Gartner predicted those numbers and I’m certainly not strong in math; so let me not go there. Speaking of the complexities in mobile browsing, I do have a point to make. While I accept that mobile browsing could be a little difficult for people with low-end mobile phones, it’s a breeze for someone who uses Apple iPhone, Smartphone, Blackberry, and the like. So, let’s take that elite league out of the equation. Coming to the average Joe who uses low end phone, I have two points to make.

First of all, a lot of carriers are working on making mobile browsing simpler for their users with MySpace Mobile and Fox Mobile being the best examples. Sprint has partnered with both MySpace and Fox to make mobile browsing simpler than ever for its customers. You can simply check out the mobile sites of MySpace and Fox with just a click. That’s right – you don’t have to access the menu, open the browser, type the URL, and wait for the site to open. You can simply access the site with just a click. How about that for a simple mobile browsing experience? If this clicks big time with the customers, I don’t see any reason why other carriers would not want to go the same way.

Second of all, you gotta remember one thing – SMS or text messaging is said to be the most preferred form of advertising among all. It doesn’t require an iPhone to receive text messages; right? I, for one, get text messages from my carrier all the time. Most of them are ads carrying information about their latest tariff plans, latest schemes, offers, and so on. While I do have the freedom to opt out of their messaging list, I don’t want to. Simply because, I might find something useful in those messages and make use of it. After all, I don’t get charged for incoming messages and I’m given a toll free number which I can call in case I need to respond to any of those ads. So, I get about a couple of messages everyday and I take whatever I want and delete the rest – as simple as that. If you’re provided with the same option, I’m sure many of you would think twice before saying no to the advertisers.

So, I believe mobile advertising industry would grow at the rate which the experts think it would grow at. What say you?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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