12 months is a long time in the mobile phone world.
This year has seen quite a few “firsts” in mobile land, here I have just highlighted the major phones for the year, if you think of anymore, please contact me.
May – Android HTC Magic on Vodafone
Follow up to the T-Mobile G1 ‘Googlephone,’
The second Android-based phone, the Magic no longer has the slide out QWERTY keyboard of its predecessor, and is a slimmer, sleeker package from Vodafone
October 2009
Motorola’s first handset in several years and first Android phone – Motorola DEXT. This was available only on Orange but as the iPhone was coming out the following month, people did not sign up to the DEXT.
November 2009
Saw Orange get the iPhone – O2′s exclusitivity on the iPhone came to an end.
The first ever 12 mega pixel camera – the sony ericsson satio released onto the market.
December 2009 – Tesco launched the iPhone
One of the most anticipated phones, the Palm Pre, only available on O2, finally launched on Friday October 16th. In a statement yesterday, the company said it sold more Palm Pre handsets on Friday than the number of regular handsets they sell on an average day.
For those that have missed the hype about the Palm pre, I will give a few points as to why this phone has created so much stir:
- For one thing it is smaller than the iPhone with a tiny keyword aswell as the touchscreen.
- You can have more than one application running at the same time which is not the same as the iPhone.
- There will be an app store for the Palm Pre but you can still load other apps and buy them over the air from the Palm app store.
- It is the first device to run on Palm’s new Web OS operating system and as it smaller than the iPhone it is not as clunky and easily fits into your pocket
What is also new with this phone is that you can charge the handset by placing it on an electromagnetic induction pad instead of plugging it in a cable.
Palm Pre is only available on O2 on contracts from 30 pounds a month plus 90pounds for the phone. Those on 24 month contracts can get the phone for free.
It seems awfully convenient that at a time when O2′s exclusivity for the iPhone has come to an end, they bring out the Palm Pre. It will be interesting to see how the smart phone market reacts to such a new handset. Feel free to comment for those that have bought one.
Have a look at this interview on the BBC with the CEO of O2 and the CEO of Palm
I have decided to add more to the mobile technology section of this blog. With the increasing number of smart phones with accessing the internet, this is not an area to ignore.
This data is over a year old, but then if I want data for this year, I have to buy the report and I thought… well this is good enough for the time being. It is important to share what has been happening in the mobile market. If you all have any more recent up to date reports, please let me know.
http://www.telecomsmarketresearch.com/resources/UK_Mobile_Operator_Subscriber_Statistics.shtml
As you can see Vodafone and O2 are the leaders in the market place in the UK. O2 has been very successful since it got its hands on the exclusitivity of the iPhone. The first generation iPhone came out November 9th 2007, 5 months after it was launched in the USA. The second generation iPhone hit the market in July 2008 and the third generation came out June this year.
O2 UK sold 1 million iPhones during 2008 which has boosted revenues for Telefonica (parent company of O2) for Q4 2008. Revenues rose 10.4 percent in the fourth quarter, based on stable local exchange rates, climbing to €1.755 billion (£1.6 billion). So O2 has a lot to be thankful for. However, they are set to lose this exclusitivity October 9th this year and O2 are already starting to get their hands on other smartphone manufacturers such as the Palm Pre to make up for any exodus in customers when the exclusitivity runs out.
Source: http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-earnings-iphone-boosts-o2-uk-q4-revenues-grow-10.4-percent/
Exclusivity can have a dramatic effect on the mobile operator’s sales. According to ZDNet news, as of March this year, the G1 Android handset accounted for 20%of T-Mobile’s contract sales. The G1 was at the time, the only handset on the market to use Google’s Android software stack, which was launched exclusively on T-Mobile at the end of October 2008. And according to T-Mobile, the G1 produced the operator’s “best-selling launch of 2008″.
According to Strategy Analytics, they forecast 900% Android phone sales growth during 2009 and shipments of Apple’s iPhone will grow 79%.
The reason for the big forecast is due to Android’s low-cost licensing model, its semi-open source structure and Google’s support for cloud services. Vodafone recently launched the world’s second Android phone – the Magic May 30th this year. Smasung and Orange are also jumping on the Android bandwagon and will launch their phones by then end of the year.
Mobile technology | Jo Turnbull | 
December 31, 2009 11:42 am | 
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