Browsing through some finance blogs, I found this at Bloomberg – a chart which depicts the slow demise of Nokia as the reigning phone giant it used to be. The chart was a comparison between Nokia, Apple and RIM with Apple leading the herd and growing 8X larger than the former giant Nokia. When I saw this chart I wondered, what about the rest of the industry? So I went on and scoured the Net and came up with a timeline of what happened in the mobile industry from the pre-2000s to date. Read on for more.
A Breakdown of the Industry
Pre-2000s
As you can see quite obviously from the graph, Nokia was doing marvelously during the pre-2000 years banking on models like the 3310, 8210, 8810, 8890 and the 9210 Communicator. At that time Nokia was at their prime rolling out masterpiece after masterpiece and their only real contender was Motorola with chart topping models like V8088 and their Talkabout series. RIM was at still at infancy and Apple was still busy selling desktop solutions.
2000 – 2004
Nokia continues to churn out successful models like but is bested by Motorola’s V-series flip phones. Sony Ericsson introduces T610 and T630, begins to show its prowess after the Sony Electronics-Ericsson Mobile merger. Motorola then dominates the market with the debut of its RAZR V3 series in 2004. Apple still identified as a computing solutions company but gaining ground in the portable music segment. RIM plays catch-up with other industry giants in its own niche, the real business phone with the QWERTY push-mail enabled 7 series. Players like Samsung and LG become more prominent. O2 shines unexpectedly with the XdaII.
2004 – 2006
RAZR sharp! Motorola tries to cover more ground by releasing more RAZR like phones and other models which fail to capture consumer interest. 2004 till 2006 saw the growth of Asian players in the market like Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG and of course the entry of HTC which has been behind the scenes manufacturing phones for O2, i-mate and many more.
2006 – 2007
Multimedia phones galore. Apple launches the iPhone setting a benchmark for the mobile phone industry as other brands strive to keep up. Nokia still able to manage with variety in models like E61, E90 and the 5700 while Motorola launches its V8 and V9 ultra slim phones, which is ahead of its class in slimness but lacking in the features portfolio. HTC’s TouchFlo UI on the other hand takes the attention momentarily from the iPhone but only to fall short on the hardware.
2007 – 2008
Touchscreen frenzy as all players try their hand at touchscreen devices but global economic downturn holds them back. Motorola was hit the worst due to their long term deficit. Apple releases a 3G version of the iPhone and continues to lead the pack. Nokia picks up the pace in the downturn with multimedia rich phones (5800 XpressMusic, N79, N96) and business oriented phones (E66 and E71). Google announces that the HTC Dream is pregnant bearing the Android child.
2009
The year of the Android, netbook killing features and survival of the niche-st. Android-enabled phones and supporting apps gets a huge fan base posing a threat to the iPhone fans. Focusing on high-end feature packed phones help HTC keep up with the big boys as they deliver feature-packed-netbook-killing phones like the Touch Pro and Touch HD. Apple goes all Roadrunner and ups the ante with the iPhone 3GS while RIM climbs the ranks with their niche business phones. Other manufacturers like Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson blanket the market with phones of infinite combination of features but still fail to excel. Motorola struggles further and puts all their eggs into the Android basket and launches the Motorola Droid.
2010 so far
Evolution and more evolution. Nokia and Motorola release a bunch of square QWERTY enabled phones while promoting social media mobility. Microsoft joins the flurry with Kin as Motorola release more Droids. Nokia’s Symbian^3 fails to inspire but the N8 looks promising with HD capabilities. HTC plays the tech card and goes all out on the 4G network with the HTC EVO 4G. Apple takes it steady, sticks to 3G with a secondary camera and launches the iPhone 4 which has a screen that makes you think it has a HD screen.
What’s Next for 2011?
As network operators begin to roll out steadier and wider 4G coverage, mobile phones will be more ready to utilize the available bandwidth. HTC made the first move with their HTC EVO 4G and the rest of the pack would surely follow. People are getting more mobile and it is expected that more users would want to access high quality content on the go. HD on 4″ screens will become a new standard for smartphones, video recording, HDMI-out and all. Instant messaging and social networking on the mobile will be default connecting young and old through the Internet driving cellular networks like GSM & CDMA to the brink of extinction. The only bottleneck here would be the barrier to entry be it the price of a phone with such capabilities or the price of the app enabling this functionality.
Companies that focus on their niche like RIM will definitely continue to prosper as the niche divide widens. As consumers grow more conscious of their own preference, each niche group will grow larger supporting their own devices. Apple will continue it’s strategy in giving consumers the best experience while HTC will bring theirs the latest and greatest in technology. Manufacturers who prefer a blanket strategy will likely suffer losses as consumers begin to migrate over to industry players who offer the best in their category. One question which lingers in my head is will Motorola be the Android specialist rivaling HTC? Who knows. Only time will tell.
But one thing for sure, the one who will lead the pack for 2011 will be the one who starts offering free applications. Nokia realized this early and made Ovi Maps free for all. Smart move. Who will follow suit?
