Shipments of mobile phones powered by open OSs to reach 89m

Shipments of devices powered by third party open OSs reached 9.8m units, all targeting smartphones and rich feature devices. While the volume of these devices has not built yet, the value attributed to them could be as high as 11% of the total handset market. ---------------------------------------------------------- Shipments of devices powered by third party open OSs will grow from 9.8m units in 2003 to reach over 89m units in 2008. Symbian is currently the leader in this market with an overwhelming 68% share. Microsoft holds second place with 15% and Palm is close behind with a 14% market share. In 2003, Europe was the main consumer of devices powered by third party open OSs with a 46% market share, which translates to 4.55m shipped devices in the region. The dominance of Symbians partners including Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, Siemens, and the popularity of Symbian-based smartphones, means that it will be difficult for others to overtake Symbians market share in this region in the near future. North America is the second biggest market with around3.1m shipments in 2003. Asia-Pacific operators and device vendors have widely opted to adopt proprietary OSs rather than choosing open OSs to power smartphone devices. Indeed, in this region some 70% of smartphones shipped in 2003 were powered by proprietary OSs. Shipments of third party open OS smartphones reached 1.35m. ----------------------------------------------------------- MOBILE APPLICATION PLATFORMS AND OPERATING SYSTEMS found that the number of devices featuring applications platforms in conjunction with an OS, including Java and BREW, or GVM reached 115m units in 2003. Most of these were mid-range to high-end devices. ************************************************************* Other key findings from MOBILE APPLICATION PLATFORMS AND OPERATING SYSTEMS 2003-2008 include: Improving time to market through outsourcing: A major challenge for providers is avoiding service delays, which have in the past plagued the industry. Outsourcing is a growing trend in the marketplace as it helps cut costs of production and provides manufacturing and service implementation flexibility. This pressure will undoubtedly continue as pressures grow on traditional vendors to bring products to market rapidly. Tough Competition and Market Consolidation : The wireless Java industry is currently facing tough competition from within, as well as from other technologies such as BREW and advanced OSs. In order to remain competitive and win market share, players throughout the supply chain will have to maintain attractive pricing whilst also differentiating their products.