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Apple hits three-year low in smartphone marketshare, shipment figures reveal
Fresh reports on the state of the cellphone market during Q2 2013 have blown through the barn door, and industry analysts are flaunting some fairly impressive figures. Smartphones have outsold their less-intelligent brethren for the second quarter in a row, and Strategy Analytics says shipments hit a record-breaking 237.9 million. According to IDC, Samsung managed to ship a total of 72.4 million smartphones during Q2 -- a 43.9% boost year-over-year -- with help of the Galaxy S 4 and price cuts to the GS3. To put that in perspective, that's more than double the 31.2 million iPhones Apple managed to ship, and Strategy Analytics claims this marks a three-year low in Cook and Co.'s marketshare. While LG and ZTE each occupy third and fifth place, respectively, Lenovo pushed Huawei out of the number four slot by sending out 11.3 million handsets. If you're craving for more stats, hit the break for a trio of press releases.
Global mobile phone shipments breached 1.6 billion units in 2012, Samsung, Apple and Nokia still on top
A charger on every nightstand and a phone in every pocket -- it could be a presidential slogan, but it's really just reality. According to research from Strategy Analytics, a staggering 1.6 billion mobile phones were shipped (not sold) globally in 2012, and 700 million of them were smartphones. Samsung, Nokia and Apple, in that order, were the biggest movers of handsets, though the latter two change places when it comes to smartphones -- Espoo only shipped 35 million to Cupertino's 135, while Samsung topped the trio at 213 million devices shipped. Surprising? Hardly -- smartphone sales climbed throughout 2012, and the aforementioned manufacturers have been kings of the category since last February. The numbers are telling though -- according to ABI Research, Apple saw less growth in 2012 than the previous year, and may hit a plateau in market share in 2013. Samsung, on the other hand, may have some room to grow -- capturing 34 percent of total smartphone shipments in Q4 with over 60 million smartphones moved. Apple nabbed 24.5% of the market with 47.8 million shipped iPhones, while Nokia and RIM took up the tail of the quarter with 86.3 and 6.9 million shipped devices, respectively. Statistic lover? You'll find full numbers (plus a little analyst speculation) in a trio of press releases after the break.
Apple's App Store beats competition according to ABI
The tech analysts at ABI Research have named Apple's App Store the top overall app marketplace, beating out competitors Google and Microsoft. As Macworld reports, ABI's ranking takes into account two different scores, which the company calls "Implementation," and "Innovations." Apple's digital storefront scored 80.8 out of 100, while Google came in second with 72.2, and Microsoft in third with 63.9. However, while Apple came out ahead in the overall ranking, Microsoft takes the crown in the individual Innovations category. Based on factors such as quality control and ease of use, Microsoft scored 77 out of 100, while Apple scored 76. The Implementation category is based on measurable figures like market share, revenue, and total apps. ABI didn't reveal the individual scores for this portion of the study, but with these factors in mind -- and the fact that Apple was in second place in the Innovations category -- it appears that Cupertino made up plenty of ground with its Implementation score.
ABI Research: LTE subscriptions surpassed WiMAX usage in Q2 2012
WiMAX isn't exactly a fading technology, but LTE is more and more the name of the mobile connectivity game -- at least in Japan, South Korea and the US. That's what ABI Research gleaned from its "4G Subscribers, Devices and Networks" market data: according to the study the number of LTE subscribers in Japan, South Korea and the US shot past that of WiMAX users in the last quarter of 2011 through to quarter two of 2012. The firm says 77 percent of LTE devices were smartphones in 2011, and it projects that LTE handsets will make up more than 80 percent of device shipments in 2016. ABI says LTE's advantage will grow in the next few years, as more mobile operators roll out TD-LTE networks, and as we begin to see more LTE chipsets hit the market. Head past the break for the press release.
ABI: Apple and Samsung have over 55 percent of the smartphone space, 90 percent of its money-making
Tech finance sleuth Horace Dediu was clearly astute when he determined that it's really Apple and Samsung's smartphone world, and we just live in it. ABI Research just estimated that, combined, the iPhone and Galaxy creators were responsible for more than 90 percent of the profits in the first quarter of 2012 -- mostly through carving out more than 55 percent of the total market share for themselves. We already know that only a handful of companies, like HTC, were making any kind of profit at the same time; ABI, however, has underscored just how much of a mountain Nokia has to climb to reclaim its glory days. For Nokia to completely make up for Symbian's decline, shipments of Lumia phones will have to jump a staggering 5,000 percent this year. The Finnish phone maker is certainly hopeful, but with the 80 percent growth rate in China mostly being led by locals like Huawei and ZTE, that's no mean feat.
ABI: Galaxy Note and other phablets will ship at 208 million a year by 2015, blot out the sun
Some of us aren't convinced that phablets will last as more than a short-term success. That hasn't stopped ABI Research from predicting that enough of the size XXL smartphones will sell to block all natural sunlight. The study team sees phones like the Galaxy Note and Optimus Vu as just the start, with help from Huawei, HTC and others leading to a crescendo of 208 million phablets shipped in 2015 alone. Of course, as with many of these predictions, the estimate is based on a little bit of knowledge and a lot of speculation about the market's tastes: the researchers have a hunch that the values of navigation, reading and the web will steer us to big screens, and they're including devices just over 4.6 inches like the One X or the upcoming Galaxy S III. There's a bit of evidence to support the claims -- Samsung sold five million Notes in five months, and HTC has seen some brisk One X sales -- but that's still no guarantee that regular-sized smartphones will have to fight in the shade.
More than 70 percent of mobile users pay little for apps, big spenders make up for us cheapskates
We know smartphone and tablet owners like to buy games. But if you go by a new ABI exploration of user habits, most of us aren't buying much of anything. More than 70 percent of the crowd spends little to nothing on mobile apps, dragging down the average of $14 spent per month among paying customers to a median of $7.50 when you include the skinflints. As you might imagine, that leaves the remaining 30 percent making up for a lot of slack: three percent of downloaders represent a fifth of all the spending in the mobile app world. Researchers suggest that developers focus on a long-term strategy of freemium pricing or utility apps to get more customers buying, but we imagine that writing more games about catapulting frustrated birds might just work out on its own.
iPad users download 3 billion apps
Technology market intelligence firm ABI Research provided some fascinating numbers today that show that Apple is still maintaining the lead in the tablet market despite the release of a plethora of Android tablets. According to the ABI Research numbers, iPad users have downloaded three billion apps since the launch of the iPad in April of 2010. The iPad made it to this milestone in just a year and a half, while it took the iPhone two years to reach this point. Owners of Android tablets have only downloaded about 440 millions apps to date. ABI Research associate Lim Shiyang notes that "Many Android tablets in the market are still using older versions of Android, which disadvantages users from enjoying the better effects of apps produced from more advanced software development kits." The ABI article notes that "Apple's iPad apps are generally considered to be of a better quality compared to Android tablet-specific apps." Dan Shey, practice director of mobile services for ABI, noted that "Android is currently being used on many low end tablets that do not offer experiences anywhere near the iPad and this dampens the download momentum for users." Shey believes, however, that things will change as more tablet manufacturers move to Android 4.0 and device specs become closer to those of the iPad. [via The Loop]
Nokia still ahead of Apple in smartphone sales, according to Gartner
Whoa there, Apple, we know you're starting to feel pretty darn good about besting Nokia and Samsung for the title of world's largest smartphone manufacturer, but hold on for just one minute. Gartner has a different idea of how the numbers game really works, and its interpretation makes all the difference in determining who earns the title. Rather than measuring the number of units each manufacturer ships out to the distributors (as IDC, ABI Research and Strategy Analytics do), Gartner gauges its numbers by how many devices were actually sold to end users instead. Thus, Nokia still keeps its title -- for one more quarter, anyways. The firm is confident Espoo won't be the top smartphone contender for much longer, thanks to the company's grim Q3 outlook as it continues to await the transition to Windows Phone. But hey, there's always Q4, right? Right? Check out the full press release after the break.
ABI Research predicts Blu-ray players in 18% of TV owning households next year
After successfully predicting shocking trends like Blu-ray player prices heading downwards and the PS3's continued install base lead on other players, analysts at ABI Research see 62.5 million Blu-ray players shipping next year. Analyst Mike Inouye sees this as a part of the growth potential of TV-centric devices related to price declines, plus new technology arriving like larger displays, internet access and 3D. With market penetration (in TV owning households) expected to rise from 7% in 2009 to 18% next year, we're wondering what's holding the format back from even more growth. Prices are relatively low now, full featured players are easy to find, and HDTVs are rapidly taking over. Is that other 82% happy with upscaled DVDs, movies on cable or on demand, internet downloading/streaming, or are we just being impatient?
ARM-based processors to overtake x86 competition in netbooks and MIDs by 2013?
We suppose industry analysts must be paid on account of just how grand their prognostications are. ABI Research know-it-alls have come out with their own spectacular claim today by asserting their expectation that x86 processors -- still dominant the world over -- will be swept aside in the rapidly developing "ultra-mobile device" space by the ascension of ARM-based processing architectures. That the Cortex CPUs have grown in popularity (and power) is undeniable, but who realistically expects Intel to sit back and watch all this happen? The x86 patriarch has even gone and created an Atom SDK, so we hardly expect the forecast table above to become reality. We're just happy to see that ARM's lower power profile is attracting investment -- it's always good to see a threat to Santa Clara's chokehold on the CPU market, and AMD's sleepwalking through the past few months hasn't helped things. Now if only those Tegra 2 smartbooks were on retail shelves instead of inside prototype shells, we could get started on this supposed revolution.
New ABI Research reports forecasts 20 million network TVs to ship in 2011
Sometimes we wonder why we didn't pursue a career as an analyst instead of this Engadget thing. What we mean is how much fun would it be to spend your days thinking of headlines for reports that more than likely just state the obvious? Either way, the latest from ABI Research indicates that in the next few years connected TVs will be the thing to have. Although the report doesn't say it, we'd like to throw our two cents in with the prediction that most of the TVs will use WiFi to connect as we don't see many running CAT5 in their walls anytime soon -- new construction not included. Of course the real question is what exactly will these TVs be using their new found connectivity for? So far the content keepers haven't show many signs of giving up the goods under reasonable terms, and the existing informational widgets are to slow to be useful.
Internet media viewing on TVs set to surge by 2013
So, here's an interesting take. ABI Research is forecasting that the amount of online programs watched on the TV (as in, not on the computer monitor) will grow from 563 million viewers in 2008 to 941 million by 2013. There's no doubt that web-based content is catching on, though we suspect it'll need to be easily piped to the traditional television set for those in past generations to really take it seriously. To that end, it's anticipated that operators as well as console manufacturers and the like will make it increasingly easier to access internet TV via Netflix, Hulu and related portals. Can you imagine a day when your favorite programs, even NFL games, are beamed directly to a website that's easily accessible via a web-to-TV liaison such as the ZvBox? We know, bandwidth is a serious issue, but the concept alone should be enough to make traditional MSOs sweat.[Via VideoBusiness, image courtesy of ZatzNotFunny]
Wireless HDTV products backed with cash, still barely available
ABI Research definitely put its thinking cap on for this one, as it recently found that wireless HDTV vendors are still pouring cash into products, yet few are available for consumption in North America. It's a trend we've watched develop, and we cringe to think that it's not getting better. Chances are we'll see a new wave of cord-free HD products at CES 2009, all while we wait patiently for cord-free wares from CES 2008 to make it out of the testing phase. Sadly, the report doesn't actually mention anything we didn't already know -- companies are still out there trying to prove their format is superior, all while actual manufacturers dillydally around and miss one opportunity after another. And really, with prices like $1,499 for the Belkin FlyWire, we wonder if there's any mass market appeal even if the shipments do begin to flow.
ABI Research sez set-top-box shipments to peak in 2012
Ah, the infamous 2012. The latest batch of research forecasting out to that fateful year comes from ABI, who is proudly proclaiming that global set-top-box shipments will peak in just over three years. The data includes STBs that pass along satellite, cable, or DTT signals, and the impending decrease is primarily pegged to the transition to all-digital broadcasting. To be frank, we can't say we entirely agree or even understand the logic there, but we can get along with the assertion that STB functionality is apt to become more tightly integrated in HDTVs / HTPCs in the future. Personally, we still feel that there's a lot of life left globally in the dedicated set-top-box, but we all know it's just a matter of time before we're all getting HDD implants in our skulls to log missed episodes of The Office.
ABI Research points out the obvious: Blu-ray prices prices heading downward
Man, what a difference 1.75 months makes. In mid-September, the BDA actually admitted that Blu-ray player prices weren't going to be sinking anytime soon; fast forward to now, and we've already got a smattering of sub-$200 decks to choose from. That being the case, ABI Research has just pushed out a new release that points out the obvious, noting that "competitive pressure from movie download services, and media speculation about the future success of the Blu-ray format itself has resulted in falling Blu-ray player prices across a range of current and older models." Unfortunately, there aren't any hints in there of just how low prices will go on Black Friday and during the run-up to the end of December, but trust us, we looked.
ABI survey ties video diet to age
On the heels of our own roundtable discussion, ABI Research has a survey that ties video consumption methods to age. No big surprises -- the younger crowd leads the way on gaming consoles, VOD, internet downloads and cell phone video -- but still, some interesting trends emerged. DVRs look to have achieved uniform adoption across all age groups, whereas the older VOD technology is still largely used by young adults. To VOD's credit, up to half of those who try it get hooked, regardless of age, so carriers just need to get people started (we're thinking free trials are in order). Internet downloads are really only on the radar of the under-30 crowd, chalked up to "inconsistencies in the process," which might explain why some people's eyes glaze over when we try to explain how to get content via the internet. On the other end of the age spectrum, videogame console use more than doubled in the 65+ year-old group; but we figure a lot of those units are Wiis that won't be used for watching content (officially or otherwise). Hit the link for more details and chime in with your take.
Consumers delaying Blu-ray purchases, can't find value proposition
You just have to love the mixed messages, don't you? On one hand, you've got research asserting that Blu-ray simply isn't gaining the desired amount of traction since the demise of HD DVD; on the other, you've got numbers showing that BD adoption actually is on the up and up. So, which is it? According to a hot-out-of-the-oven study by ABI Research, consumers in America are still procrastinating when it comes to buying into Blu-ray. Over half of the 1,000 respondents noted that they had "no plans to purchase one," with 23% suggesting that they might take the plunge in 2009. Principal analyst Steve Wilson, in our estimation, nails the reason right on the head: consumers can't see why Blu-ray is worth the extra coin over DVD. Let's face it -- VHS to DVD was entirely more dramatic than DVD to Blu-ray, and for folks still watching an SDTV, Blu-ray isn't even a consideration. Slow and steady, BD, slow and steady.[Image courtesy of WikInvest]
Analyst sees tough going for tru2way
Despite the apparent tru2way lovefest between cable ops and electronics manufacturers, ABI Research isn't convinced. Add together the cable operator's unwillingness to forecast exact tru2way deployments, and a lack of focus on interoperability testing portend a future where customers can't be sure their equipment will work across different cable systems. Without that, electronics manufacturers could drag their feet supporting it, as has occurred with CableCard, leaving operators (and customers) with expensive and distinctly unglamorous set-top boxes. Despite all that, the report predicts half of all cable customers will have tru2way by 2013, but it won't be easy.
Study confirms that wireless HD is still far from mainstream
A lot of things in the high-def world are going down in 2012, so it's not shocking at all to hear that we've got yet another thing to look forward to during that fateful year. ABI Research has just loosed a new report that tags wireless HD as being in its "incubation" stage, with fewer than 100,000 devices in the sector scheduled to ship in 2008. Furthermore, analysts are suggesting that 2012 would be the earliest point in which one million wireless HDTV installations occurred worldwide -- and that's an "optimistic forecast." We posed the question a few months back wondering just how long it would take for this stuff to take off. 'Spose we have our answer, huh?[Via Connected Home News]
