There is no recession at least in this sector. New products, variations, applications and technological innovations are making the mobile phone handset industry one of the hottest sector in the history of consumer goods industry.
After Steve Jobs innovated the merger of communication, computing and entertainment in a single device, the smart phone sector is undergoing tremendous transition. Different combinations of software, hardware and applications are making the consumers surprised.
You can of course thrillingly watch how the competitors in the field are waging hard battles to retain the market. The beginners of the industry, Motorola and Ericson, which were telecom firms, are no more in the mobile handset sector. Their peer, Nokia is battling on the exit front. New rookies- Apple and Samsung are in the final stage of the fight to possess the first position.
The year 2012 witnessed the emergence of Samsung at the top of the race. The victory ofGalaxy Note S III over Apple’s iPhone 4 was decisive in giving the Korean multinational an edge over the US firm.
Samsung’s dream run in 2012 was amazing. The Korean firm, sells 500 phones in every minute globally. The company has estimated a revenue of US$190 billion in 2012, which is nearly 65% of India’s exports.
The lucky occurrence of Android in Samsung smartphones has proved that software is as important as the hardware . Samsung was able to get considerable benefit in its fight with Apple because of the Android OS.
Now, the leading development is that Software maker Google has acquired Motorola’s handset unit indicating that it may turn to the handset industry soon. Anticipating big competition, Samsung along with a number of other companies is developing a new operating system for smartphone called Tizen.
There is two more firms which should be mentioned to complete a brief review of the industry’s trend. First is the Japanese titan, innovator of the past- Sony. Sony was the leader of consumer electronics sector since 1980. But, unfortunately, it was not able to continue its dominance when the sector has registered the fastest revenues in its history. The inventor of walkman, PSP and CDs, is a lower end producer of smart phones now, because of its irrational partenership with Ericson. It has lost time as well as in the process, lost itself in history. Sony, Panasonic and Sharp are struggling with debt and may soon find worse times when competitors from Korea and China are consolidating. Second firm to be surely mentioned is the Chinese telecom giant- Huawei. Huawei is making handsets at cheaper rates. Its recently launched product Ascend W1 Windows phone may give big competition to Nokia. Huawei is a Samsung in making.
There is no dearth for drama in the smart phone industry. More battles in the future are waiting to happen…
