| Converged mobile device market continues growth |
Oct. 26, 2006
Converged mobile device shipments in Q3 grew 19.2 percent year-over-year in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) market, Canalys reports. HTC, with its broad line of Windows Mobile devices, was the fastest growing vendor, and Palm's Windows Mobile-based Treo 700v is expected to show strong growth in the coming months, the research firm said.
In contrast to the strong growth of the "converged device" segment, shipments of "unconnected handhelds" dropped 42.7 percent year-over-year, resulting in an overall growth in shipments for what Canalys calls "smart mobile devices" of 11.7 percent year-over-year. This was slightly better than Q2's 10.6 percent year-over-year growth for the category, but significantly less than last year's 100 percent-plus rates.
Canalys director and principal analyst Chris Jones noted that "the shift in demand for consumer GPS navigation, away from handhelds to dedicated PNDs [personal navigation devices], can really be seen in these numbers. It would not be surprising to see some vendors scale back their efforts in the handheld market within the next couple of quarters if the trend continues. Q4 will be pivotal, as it is typically the biggest quarter by far for this class of device and underperformance may cause vendors to re-evaluate their positions."
Device vendor rankings
Among the top five vendors, Nokia maintained its commanding lead, while second place HTC showed the most dramatic growth rate (see table), according to the report. Canalys noted that HTC shipment estimates in the table include Qtek-branded devices, but do not include devices branded by network operators or other hardware vendors, which are tracked individually. Fifth-place HP, meanwhile, was the only top-five vendor to see a year-over-year drop in shipments, partly due to the poor performance of the unconnected smart-handheld segment.
| Vendor | Q3 2006
shipments | % share | Q3 2005
shipments | % share | Growth |
|---|
| Nokia | 5,500,830 | 75.2 | 4,848,450 | 74.0 | 13.5 | | HTC | 298,730 | 4.1 | 78,740 | 1.2 | 279.4 | | RIM | 253,420 | 3.5 | 230,190 | 3.5 | 10.1 | | Sony Ericsson | 219,010 | 3.0 | 116,640 | 1.8 | 87.8 | | HP | 186,390 | 2.5 | 308,380 | 4.7 | -39.5 | | Others | 861,310 | 11.8 | 970,550 | 14.8 | -11.3 | | Total | 7,319,690 | 100 | 6,552,850 | 100 | 11.7 |
EMEA total smart mobile device market Market shares Q3 2006, Q3 2005
(Source: Canalys)
OS vendor rankings
In the operating system space (table below), the decline of the handheld segment impacted Microsoft's marketshare despite an 80 percent increase in shipments of Windows Mobile-based converged devices, Canalys said.
| OS Vendor | Q3 2006
shipments | % share | Q3 2005
shipments | % share | Growth |
|---|
| Symbian | 5,757,540 | 78.7 | 5,022,710 | 76.6 | 14.6 | | Microsoft | 1,235,130 | 16.9 | 1,179,530 | 18.0 | 4.7 | | RIM | 253,420 | 3.5 | 230,190 | 3.5 | 10.1 | | Others | 73,600 | 1.0 | 120,420 | 1.8 | -38.9 | | Total | 7,319,690 | 100 | 6,552,850 | 100 | 11.7 |
EMEA total smart mobile device market
Market shares Q3 2006, Q3 2005
(Source: Canalys)
Windows Mobile growth anticipated
The research firm expects Microsoft's share to increase in coming months due to growing sales of HTC/Qtek-branded devices, as well as of operator-branded devices such as those of O2 and Orange. The new Palm Treo 750v, available through Vodafone in Europe, is also expected to make a significant contribution.
Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham said, "I'd be surprised if the Treo 750v did not exceed the volumes achieved by its Palm OS based predecessors in EMEA. Windows Mobile is gaining traction with network operators and with enterprise customers looking at applications such as push e-mail. While RIM is still the vendor to beat in this arena, the competition is improving with each generation of devices. What vendors must ensure, however, is that they can go to the operators with not just one or two devices, but a portfolio that can address a range of customer segments, and a clear proposition behind each. One of the key benefits of an open operating system for device vendors is the ability to tailor their propositions and add value through software and they must make the most of this opportunity to differentiate."
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