EoW March 2011

The period saw booming demand for smartphones and intense competition in themarketplace, ofwhichAndroidnowcommands a 28 per cent share. The British research firm Canalys reported that shipments of Android-powered handsets reached 32.9 million in Q4 2010, a remarkable performance for a piece of software released less than three years before. Nokia shipped 31 million Symbian-powered handsets in the quarter. Ranked third in the Canalys report, with approximately 16 million units shipped, was the iOS fromApple, Incof theUS– theoperating system that runs on the iPhone. The BlackBerry operating system from Canada’s Research in Motion placed fourth, with 14.6 million units shipped. Android was also the top mobile platform in the United States in Q4, with 12.1 million units shipped. The Google platform has benefited from adoption by some of the world’s largest mobile phone makers, such as HTC, LG and Samsung. Symbian has found a berth mainly in handsets manufactured by Nokia. According to data from NPD Group (Port Washington, New York), on a handset basis the top-selling smartphone vendor in the US for the fourth quarter was Apple, with the iPhone 4 in the No 1 slot and the older iPhone 3GS at No 4 Android handsets held three of the top five slots. However, as noted by Dan Gallagher of the Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada), the competitive dynamics may shift in the first quarter of this year, when the iPhone makes its debut on Verizon Wireless in the United States. Verizon has been a key backer of Android. (“Android Makes Strong Gains in Mobile Market,” 31 st January). With respect to the Verizon-Apple agreement, Canalys looks for Verizon to move its focus away from the Droid range. Company analyst Tim Shepherd wrote that “the overall market impact will mean fewer carrier-exclusive deals, while increasing the AT&T opportunity for Android vendors such as HTC, Motorola and Samsung.” In other news of Motorola, it was learned on 24 ❈ ❈ th January that the Schaumburg, Illinois-based company is being sued by Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei over Motorola’s sale of its wireless business unit to Nokia Siemens Networks. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Illinois, seeks to forestall damage to Huawei from the transfer of Motorola assets to the Finnish firm. Huawei and Motorola had a working relationship from 2000 until July of last year, when Motorola announced the sale to Nokia Siemens of its entire wireless infrastructure business – including products it sells for 3G wireless networks – in a deal worth about $1.2 billion. Huawei’s complaint asserts that the transfer of Motorola assets would cause “the massive disclosure of Huawei’s confidential information to Nokia Siemens Networks, with irreparable harm to Huawei.” Specifically, the Chinese company argues that a large number of Motorola employees, who will be transferred to Nokia Siemens under the terms of the deal, have direct knowledge of Huawei’s confidential information.

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EuroWire – March 2011