Apple Tops Nokia to Become World's Top Smartphone Vendor

[lilo777]

Well, the celebration did not last long for Apple. Bloomberg has reported that "Samsung Smartphone Sales May Pass Apple":

Samsung Electronics Co., maker of the Galaxy mobile phone, may have surpassed Nokia Oyj and Apple Inc. in smartphone sales for the first time on demand for devices that run on Android software, a research company said.
Samsung is estimated to have sold between 18 million and 21 million smartphones globally in the April-June quarter, compared with 16.7 million for Nokia and 20.3 million iPhones, Neil Mawston, a London-based analyst at Strategy Analytics, a research company based in Boston, said in an e-mailed response to questions on July 22.

Link

 

[Savor]

It says shipped, not sold. And Nokia probably manufactured less Symbian phones in recent times because of their partnership with Microsoft.

But nonetheless, that is a tremendous feat by Apple. To be in the game with a single new phone per year and to do it in only 4 years compared to Nokia with 40.

In a way, I feel bad for Nokia but it is their own fault and complacency. This is happening to RIM as well. Both lost their lead to the newcomer. Research In SLOW Motion. Both companies are still thinking dinosaurs. We will see if this Microsoft marriage works or if their Trojan horse CEO has ruined them completely.

My first GSM phone and when I started to text was a Nokia. My first phone with a color screen was a Nokia. My first smartphone with Xenon flash was a Nokia. Those basic things like GSM and smartphone capability, Apple wouldn't be where they are today without Nokia. But people take those things Nokia did for granted. Nokia pioneered alot of basic things. Think of them like the mother who cradled this industry for decades.

It is sad to Nokia become a fading star like this. Like seeing an over-the-hill boxer go down in defeat to a younger opponent. Or a once beautiful movie star get old and no longer the star she once was. Like that movie, Casino, with its tagline - "Nobody Stays On Top Forever"

You gotta appreciate the pioneers. If it came down to making a great "phone", I would still take Nokia and Motorola over Apple when it comes to their expertise with reception and decades of experience with telecommunication. But the world has passed them by because the best "phones" of today became portable "computers" with great software and that is Apple's forte since the Mac.

But Nokia will always have a special place in cell phone history and in many people's hearts.

Nokia's list of innovations
http://www.nokia.com/NOKIA_COM_1/About_Nokia/Sidebars_new_concept/Nokia_firsts/Firsts_2010.pdf

 

[Savor]

Nokia is NOT completely going down the crapper. A real cell phone pioneer and innovator with a deeper patent portfolio in cell phone technology and has been around well before Apple, Microsoft, and Google ever existed will still get paid royalties from Apple.

Nokia has over 10,000 patents.


http://www.tipb.com/2011/06/14/nokia-apple-lawsuit-settled-apple-pays/

Nokia vs Apple lawsuit settled

It looks as though Nokia and Apple have finally come to an agreement over the lawsuit they have been involved in since late 2009, with Apple agreeing to pay licensing fees for key Nokia patents. Originally, Nokia claimed that Apple had infringed on almost two dozen of their patents for mobile technologies. Apple argued that Nokia was demanding "unfair" licensing fees and didn't want to pay more than other companies licensing the same technology, then counter sued for UI and computer-related patents. Complaints flew back and forth, and now the end result of the lawsuit was that Apple has to pay Nokia a lump some of of cash on top of royalties for the term of the agreement with Nokia.

The financial structure of the agreement consists of a one-time payment payable by Apple and on-going royalties to be paid by Apple to Nokia for the term of the agreement. The specific terms of the contract are confidential.

"We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees," said Stephen Elop, president and chief executive officer of Nokia. "This settlement demonstrates Nokia's industry leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market."

Apple having to pay Nokia was never really in question. The argument was over how much. Nokia's patents were in a pool that was supposed to be freely and fairly licensed to everyone. Apple felt Nokia was violating the letter and spirit of that by asking more of Apple. Whether or not Apple eventually got the same terms as other licensees, or whether they did have to pay up more, is still a question.

Apple also remains in litigation with the three top Android makers, HTC, Samsung, and Motorola. For now, Nokia is no longer in litigation with anyone.

UPDATE: Apple has issued a statement to the New York Times [NYT]:

"Apple and Nokia have agreed to drop all of our current lawsuits and enter into a license covering some of each other's patents, but not the majority of the innovation that makes the iPhone unique," Apple said. "We are glad to put this behind us and get back to focusing on our respective businesses."

 

[KnightWRX]

Nokia is NOT completely going down the crapper. A real cell phone pioneer and innovator with a deeper patent portfolio in cell phone technology and has been around well before Apple, Microsoft, and Google ever existed will still get paid royalties from Apple.

So what ? They are killing their smartphone business with all the WP7 vaporware they are spouting. Why do you think they saw such a sharp decline in sales to even allow Apple to reach #1 in that arena ?

Elop is a Microsoft plant, designed to get Microsoft a sweet hardware vendor to make WP7 relevant. But the way they announced the move is making sure that by the time they ship their WP7 handsets, Nokia will be largely irrelevant even in the markets where they were highly praised.

 

[Dbrown]

Ah, I did not know that about the activation process, so thanks for clearing that up. Whenever I read about Android numbers, it seems to be including the hundreds of Asian models, but perhaps they should not.

If the phone doesnt come with google apps, it's not counted.

I'm not as big a fan of the activation metric as you seem to be. Given how rapidly Android fans seem to run through new phones, a lot of Android's numbers are applying to the same user over and over again.

Google activation numbers don't include upgrades.

 

[Dbrown]

You are correct that we do not know exactly what Apple requires of their resellers, but since they have the ability to tell us how many units are in the channel, they would also know how many have sold - there is no other way they can come up with a channel inventory number without knowing how many are no longer in the channel.

But not everything taken out of the channel is sold. KnightWRX is right... Apple only knows the shipped number (worldwide). In the US Apple does know for sure actual sold numbers because of NPD... but the rest of the world... who knows?

 

[NebulaClash]

If the phone doesnt come with google apps, it's not counted.



Google activation numbers don't include upgrades.

So I've been previously informed, and that's good to know. Still doesn't explain such fantastic activation numbers and such paltry usage numbers other than there are a whole lot of people using Android phones as a non-smart phone.

Poor Android, stuck as the Windows market of the 21st century: Lots of OS numbers in the market, many of them used by people who don't know the first thing about the OS and hardly take advantage of it, and oh yes, malware.

 

[kdarling]

So I've been previously informed, and that's good to know. Still doesn't explain such fantastic activation numbers and such paltry usage numbers other than there are a whole lot of people using Android phones as a non-smart phone.

Likewise, that report claims that all the iPhone and ipod users (7/8 of iOS) together only browse as much as the 1/8 iPad users. The numbers are funky.

A different major source is StatCounter who shows iOS and Android to be neck and neck:

http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_os-ww-monthly-201007-201107

Sorry posting from airport.

 

[NebulaClash]

Indeed, a lot of this has to do with the quality and completeness of the study in question. If you see a study that doesn't make sense, it might be the study.