Operating systems
Nokia owned Symbian lost a significant chunk of smartphone market share, with its 51 percent down from 57 percent a year ago. RIM and Apple grew their shares and Android already has two percent of the market. Window Mobile's share also continued to decline, now accounting for only nine percent of the smartphone market.
"Microsoft licensees HTC and Samsung continued to add features to their own interfaces, on top of Windows Mobile, to create more competitive products and make up for the usability constraints of the Microsoft platform," said Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner.
The much hyped Palm Pre isn't getting the sales it must have hoped for either. "This device attracted a lot of media attention but showed mixed results at the cash register as sales only reached 205,000 units," said Ms Cozza. "Palm currently ranks tenth in the smartphone market and Gartner remains concerned about its ability to gain traction outside the US market, where its brand is less strong."
Regarding features, it looks like iPhone clones are what it's all about. "For the remainder of 2009, manufacturers must offer products with the features that consumers and operators are demanding most strongly - like touchscreens, focus on user interfaces and application/content ecosystems - and work hard to keep operators loyal," said Milanesi.
