While the BlackBerry might still need some work against the iPhone, it’s still kicking tail against other smartphone manufacturers when it comes to keeping enterprise buyers happy. J.D. Power and Associates used a rating system which examined a smartphone’s ease of use, operating system, form factor, audio, battery and utilities, in order of weight. Palm and Samsung tied for second place, with Motorola behind the industry average. Outside of that, the survey also touched on some other trends among smartphone users, such as the 40% who wants GPS versus the mere 26% who want Wi-Fi. The top features folks are looking for in a smartphone are “personal information manager (PIM) functionality (50%), Internet capability (48%), Bluetooth capabilities (46%), general ease of use (44%) and overall design/style (44%).” Funniest thing is that games topped enterprise users’ choice for third-party software – all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, huh?
Tag: motorolaPage 4 of 5
We’ve heard it all before, but now analysts are backing up Balsillie’s big talk about the iPhone not being competition. A recent report from the NDP Group aimed at guaging Apple’s success in the mobile market has come to the conclusion that while the Treo and Sidekick suffered some converts as a result of the iPhone, the lack of enterprise e-mail kept BlackBerry users from switching. While encouraging, is that the only thing stopping the iPhone from putting a dent in RIM’s armour? Let’s say hypothetically that the iPhone gets Exchange server support – will that be enough to turn the tide? As far as carriers go, T-Mobile and Alltel lost plenty of subscribers to AT&T; the subscribers for both were three times more likely to have switched over for an iPhone.
With the summer drawing to a close, the numbers for the initial wave of iPhone sales are shaping up, and they’re pretty impressive. iSuppli is reporting 220,000 out of 2 million surveyed have bought one, which translates to a 1.8% grab of the market. On top of that, they’re forecasting 4.5 million before the end of the year and 30 million units in the public by 2011. Earlier, we were looking at a total of 6% market penetration, and with a start like this summers’, it’s entirely likely. Just to put these numbers in perspective…
“The two models of the iPhone on the market sold more than Research in Motion’s Blackberry series, the entire Palm portfolio and any individual smartphone model from Motorola, Nokia or Samsung.”
ABI’s fed the big companies into its newfangled Vendor Matrix, which one imagines as some giant machine that churns and bubbles and whizzes and clunks along until it dings a little bell and spits out a result, and has put Nokia at the top, with Motorola in second and RIM in third. After listening to a friend in the UK gushing about his new Nokia N95 this morning, it’s no surprise that Nokia’s on top. Criteria for ranking is based on performance in innovation and implementation of products.
In terms of implementation, Nokia has captured 56% of the global smartphone market, which is where they’ve really succeeded since RIM, Motorola and Sony Ericsson have all matched Nokia’s innovation score. While these reports need to be taken with a grain of salt, ABI’s standards are fairly comprehensive.
Check the criteria behind the jump.
You know it’s hard times for a company when someone wearing a three-pronged hat with bells on it calls you out. But considering the bad luck Motorola has been having recently, maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised. Pointing to Moto’s financial downturn in the face of across the board industry success and the iPhone‘s drive to make smartphones cool for everyone, the analysts at the Fool wonder why a company with such a hugely successful product like the RAZR can’t make enough money.
Here’s a potential answer: Motorola’s product line is stagnant. The RAZR’s selling point (which is now 3 years old, mind you) was that it was sleek, exclusive, and cool. When the device went from haute couture to mass market in 2005 and even your grandma was sporting a pink V3, the RAZR lost that cachet with trend setters. Future iterations have failed to hit the magical trifecta of the original, and most seem to be slightly revised models of a device that everyone already owns (which they are). Hey, Motorola: there’s a reason why a $500 device made by a computer company gets dubbed the “Jesus Phone” and receives national news coverage during its release. Hit us with something new already, please. And no, we don’t mean the Q9h.
Upon hitting the $227.52 mark last Friday, RIM has surpassed Motorola in total market value: $42.3 vs. $41.4 billion. According to some, we can thank BlackBerry’s strong focus on software for the gains, but RIM makes most of their revenue from hardware. Of course strong profits have also helped push RIM’s stock well over the $200 line. It’s great to see things still doing so well in the wake of the iPhone, but you still can’t help but feel like you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. Something is going to deflate RIM sooner or later, but if Apple can’t do it, who will?
