What would the year in mobile handsets, especially smartphones, have been
like if the economy hadn't taken a plunge in September? That's one of the questions
that comes to mind on seeing metrics from ABI
Research released Jan. 29.
Calling 2008 a "year of two halves," ABI
researchers said mobile handset shipments grew 14 percent year over year in
the first half of the year but hit a brick wall in the fourth quarter, falling
10 percent.
The September credit crunch was kind to no one, and handset makers clearly felt
the sting: fewer phones in Christmas stockings everywhere.
The net result? The year closed with 1.21 billion handsets shipped for an
annual growth of 5.4 percent compared with 16 percent growth from 2007, Jake
Saunders, Asia-Pacific vice president of ABI
Research, said in a statement.
Capitalizing on a strong first half of 2008, Samsung gets the market share
growth prize with 2.7 percent thanks to its Omnia and Ultra series handsets,
while Nokia's handset share grew 1.8 percent to a world-beating 38.6 percent.
LG's share grew 1.5 percent.
But given the second-half drop, some vendors had to suffer. That would be Motorola, whose
woes are well-chronicled. The company, which just laid off 4,000 employees,
saw a 5.1 percent dip in 2008. Clinging to an 8.3 percent share, Motorola is
looking to retrench in 2009 by eschewing Windows Mobile devices for smartphones based on Google's Android operating system.
Sony-Ericsson saw a 0.7 percent dip contraction in market share.
RIM (Research In Motion), which had successful BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Storm smartphone rollouts, increased its market share
0.9 percent to 1.9 percent. The market share of Apple's iPhone grew 0.8 percent
to 1.2 percent, impressive considering the iPhone is less than two years old.
So, what about Android?
Not much to tell. T-Mobile, HTC and Google
launched the G1 Android smartphone Oct.
22, 2008, too late in the year to make much impact. However, ABI
Research noted that HTC has significant
contracts in place to press its advantage in 2009. Indeed, rumors of a T-Mobile G2 from HTC abound.
What else can we expect from the handset market in 2009? Saunders said he expects
a possible year-over-year handset shipment drop of 5 to 10 percent thanks to
the recession.
Saunders also said he believes handset vendors will be
trying to convince everyone they should own smartphones, which, thanks to the iPhone
and other devices, have become a breeding ground for new Web services. "Welcome
to the Year of the Smartphone," he concluded.
The folks at ABI Research are having fun with prognostications this
week. Analyst Kevin Burden said he expects a market explosion for netbooks,
those low-cost Web surfing notebook PCs, with worldwide shipments
rising to an estimated 139 million in 2013.
Enterprise Mobility News & Reviews 
