Note: it’s probably best to have this smartphone PDF comparison handy while you are reading the post. I have not mastered pictures yet. I also updated my counting error on AT&T and my omission of the Samsung 4G Sprint phone (which technically wasn’t introduced until Sunday). So if you had the previous version, please replace.
Greetings from Kansas City, where playoff hopes are alive – for our professional soccer team. August is a more reflective month in technology – people take vacations (except the M&A folks working the HP v. Dell fight for 3PAR), the government takes a break from additional regulations, and we start to think about the fall/ holiday selling season across the wireless retail sector.
This week also marks the one year anniversary of the formation of Mobile Symmetry. Yes, we’ve been at this second iteration (groups/ micro directories focus) for just under five months and finally we have birthed a database. Many of you will be receiving messages to start Alpha testing (remember, this is Alpha – some of the corners and walls are still unpainted but the foundation and framework is in place), and we would like you to kick the tires – hard. We have seven Beta customers who are patiently waiting to get going but we need a strong Alpha test to make a strong first impression. Look for more information on just after Labor Day.
We also received our first investor commitment this week (yes, we’ve self-funded to this point). This “yes” vote was another great feeling – someone else shares our vision. Hopefully by next week we have our first mega-customer.
But enough about private, ubiquitous directories, that, according to the “Five You May Have Missed” below, could form the basis for a new generation of Facebook and other social networking services. When we initiated Mobile Symmetry, one of the things we started to do was categorize the handset market. A year ago, Blackberry and Windows Mobile dominated the marketplace (Verizon did not carry an alternative phone until the introduction of the Droid in November 2009). On top of Blackberry and Windows Mobile, AT&T had the iPhone and briefly marketed a couple of phones running Nokia. Sprint was the exclusive provider of the Palm Pre. T-Mobile had just introduced a new Android phone called myTouch which complemented the pioneering G1 Android device.
Here’s the 9/25/2009 Charts for AT&T and Verizon (smart phones are to the right). Note – I have included all of these charts in the PDF attached at the beginning of this article:
That was then. Look at what’s happened in a year:
What a difference a year makes. Gone are the Blackberry Pearl, Blackberry Flip, and the iconic 8703 series. HTC continues to stick it out with Windows Mobile, but few new iterations have been introduced. And, most importantly, almost all of the new models are Android Green, even at AT&T.
Don’t get me wrong – a vast selection of Dell or Samsung phones is not going to suddenly cause AT&T sales representatives to ignore the iPhone. But the flood of Android devices will attract a lot more attention from the application programmer community. Which means that the next “Angry Birds” application might come from Google’s developers, not Apple’s.
While the smartphone category will continue to grow well into the future, you have to think that the sea of green in the above slide has the Blackberry folks concerned. They are not showcased at either Verizon (Droid) or AT&T (iPhone), although they continue to hold their own in specific business market segments. Blackberry has not held a prominent smartphone position at T-Mobile since the G1, and with five of the top eight phones from Android, the share of sales “voice” is against Blackberry (go to T-Mobile’s website, where they proudly proclaim “T-Mobile is Your Android Expert”) . That leaves Sprint, who is struggling to make Blackberry a 4G sell (millisecond email doesn’t have the same ring as Google Maps or Latitude). Blackberry will continue to grow – the Curve is the Corolla/ Civic/ Chevrolet of smartphones, but they will be challenged to compete at the higher end.
One final observation on the chart above: Look at the Verizon “top box” – Droid X, Incredible, Droid 2, and likely an LTE-capable iPhone in the offing. That’s no Pixi dust – it’s an all star lineup, especially with a strong data network.
This has been a year of Android adoption – will the rest of 2010 and 2011 be the period of Android applications? With Google’s searchable, friendlier interface, applications will have more utility. The entire range of applications can survive and thrive, not just the top ones. Google also has more association with the “cloud” than Apple, and connected applications could have a greater and faster chance of success (especially when inter-application connectivity starts to become more relevant).
Android has gone from one carrier and two devices to five carriers (including Leap/ Cricket, once they restock) and 22 devices in one year. Android is the operating system for the first and second 4G phones with more on the way. A searchable database and integrated applications that leverage Google’s backbone are also coming. Are we seeing the first signs of an Android Nation? To use a political analogy, can Android rise from dark horse to Apple challenger in less than two years?
The answer is the hands of the development community. Make it easy to monetize, test, connect and manage, and Google very well could win. But the slightest slip or flinch, and momentum flows back to Apple. Consumers (and carrier data network adoption rates) are the big winners here. It’ll be a fun time to participate.
Now for five you may have missed:
- Paul Allen sues everyone except Microsoft for patent infringement. Are we surprised? Patents – they wrecked telecom, why not software?
- Zuckerberg: “Guess What? Nobody Wants to Make Lists.” This TechCrunch article and one on the “Death of Digits” echo Sunday Brief themes as well as support Mobile Symmetry. This next link takes some time to get through, but if you want to understand the complexities of identity management in a growing social grid, have a look at this presentation. It basically says that there’s an alignment between Mobile Symmetry’s and Web 3.0 strategies.
- A late entry, but many of you have remarked on the “Money Making Middle Mile” series we did earlier this year. Result: Windstream buys Norlight and Kentucky Data link for $782 million.
- Even with increased competition, cell phone rates fell 50% over the past ten years. An interesting report to read.
- An analysis of the new Gmail voice capabilities and how this has more to do with Facebook’s threat than Skype.
Thanks for the continued comments. If you have folks I should add to the list, please email them to me and I will add. Look for Alpha invitations in about a week!
The Sunday Brief: Android Nation?…
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog
…
Where is the Galaxy for Sprint? Isn’t that their BIG one this fall?
Hi blogger, hope you’re having a great day. You mind sharing the name of your theme? I would appreciate it much. Have a blessed day.
[...] Android Nation? [...]
Your article is very good yet little short. I hope you next articles could be little more elaborate that this one. Still good job.
Thanks, Rod. I tend to be too detailed so I’ll take this one as a complement.
Really great, practicly explained and Helpful tips.
Thanks -
Thank you for another informative blog. Where else could I get that kind of info written in such a perfect way? I have a project that I am just now working on, and I have been on the look out for such information.
Thanks. Please make sure you have the latest PDF. I had a mistake in the AT&T and Sprint counts.
I just couldnt leave your website before telling you that we really enjoyed the useful information you offer to your visitors… Will be back often to check up on new posts
I recently bought the Galaxy I9000. Simply cannot wait to use it!
A thoughtful insight and ideas I will use on my website. You’ve obviously spent a lot of time on this. Well done!
I wanted to thank you for this excellent read!! I definitely enjoyed every little bit of it. I have you bookmarked your web site to look at the latest stuff you publish.
I don’t mean to get off topic here, however I believe that your web hosting service is actually a little random right now, since I’m getting loads of blank pages. It occurs far more frequently anytime I submit a comment.
Not sure on that one. Maybe a WordPress issue? Thanks for your patience.
Informative and interesting post!!!keep it up..
Thanks so much for your great article;this is the kind of thing that keeps me going through out these day. I have been looking around for your site after I heard about them from a colleague and was thrilled when I was able to find it after searching for some time. Being a avid blogger, I’m pleased to see others taking initivative and contributing to the community. Just wanted to comment to show my support for your work as it’s very enticing, and many writers do not get admiration they deserve. I am sure I’ll drop by again and will send some of my friends.
I found this information usefull.
trying to follow you on twitter but cant find your name
You can follow me @mobilesymmetry
I like this blog. I will undoubtedly be looking into it frequently.
thanks for your tips , i’d love to stick to your website as usually as i can.possess a good day~~
My goodness, did you see those results that Rim posted in the second quarter. Research in Motion posted some amazing results. They posted 68 percent. Simply amazing, I hope some people made some massive profits.
Because of your website, I can improve my website. Thank you for giving information that is always new and readable.
Hey, very nice website. I actually came across this on Bing, and I am happy I did. I will definately be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table, but am just absorbing as much info as I can at the moment. Thank You
Intimately, the post is really the greatest on this worthw hile topic. I match in with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your next updates. Simply saying thanks definitely will not just be enough, for the wonderful clarity in your writing. I can directly grab your rss feed to stay abreast of any updates. Pleasant work and much success in your business endeavors!
This is a useful post, but I was wondering how do I suscribe to the RSS feed?
RSS feed is on the middle on the right bar on the page.
Thanks, Very useful resource!!
Hello, thank you for the nice read. Wanted to subscribe to your feed. However unfortunately it does not seem to be working at all for me. Are there other people having this problem? I’ll be back in a little while to update. Anyways thanks a lot again for the piece.
Hi there, I found your blog via Google while searching for first aid for a heart attack and your post los very interesting for me.
I just stumbled on your blog when I was lookng on google. I have to say that the information here was the most complete that I found anywhere. I am definitely bookmarking this to come back and read later.
Keep up the good work. I just recently found your site/blog and I would hope that there are more people like you, out there. Now, back to reading….
Hi, I apologize for enquiring this question here, but I am not ableto find a contact form or something so I assumed I could I leave my enquiry here. I run a blogengine blog but I am getting large amounts of spam. I see u use wordpress, is it simpler to control spam with wordpress or doesn’t it make any difference? I hope you will respond to my comment or maybe send me an email with your answer if you don’t want to approve the comment. Best regards
Spam happens. If you are vigilant about cleaning it up, they find other places to go. Also, WordPress does a terrific job of helping to keep spam out. JDP
Thank you for another fantastic blog. Where else could I get this kind of info written in such an incite full way? I have been looking for such information.
Great post full of useful tips! My site is fairly new and I am also having a hard time getting my readers to leave comments. Analytics shows they are coming to the site but I have a feeling “nobody wants to be first”.
Saw your Blog bookmarked on Reddit.I really enjoy your blog and marketing tactic. Investigate out my Farmville Guidebook in the event you get a moment.
I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog.I will keep visiting this blog very
Very interesting article you got there. It helped me a lot and I’m definitely coming back to your site again in the future. Keep up the good work.
Hi, good day. Wonderful post. You have gained a new subscriber. Pleasee continue this great work and I look forward to more of your great blog posts.
Thank you for another fantastic blog. Where else could I get this kind of info written in such an incite full way? I have been looking for such information.
Hello cool site, I saw your website when I was doing some investigation on some methods to improve my web log. I was simply enquiring which spam software you use for comments as I get a good deal on my blogs.
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
I love your site.
hey great information your site contains will return when I have time to read more.
“I am speechless. This is often a superb weblog and very participating too. Fantastic work! That is not really much approaching from an novice publisher like me, but it is all I could say right after diving into your posts. Good grammar and vocabulary. In contrast to other blogs. You truly know what you’re talking about very. So much that you simply produced me want to discover extra. Your blog site has turn into a stepping stone for me, my fellow blogger. Thanks for the comprehensive quest. I genuinely enjoyed the 8 posts that I’ve read so considerably.
Quite Good Blogpost. Would you thoughts if I take a tiny snippets of your article and needless to say link it to your blogposts??
sure – no problem. JDP
Thank you very much for writing a lot of this awesome information! Looking forward to seeintg more posts!
[...] Blackberry, even Palm and Windows 7. As we chronicled in a previous Sunday Brief called “Android Nation?” the fortunes of an operating system can change overnight (or in the case of Android, a [...]
I enjoy visiting daily to see your writings. I have your page bookmarked on my daily read list!
I have been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be much more useful than ever before.
You are a very intelligent individual!
I like this web site very much so much superb info .
Great template used on this site. I can see it has the potential to be modifed for any subject.
Very good article. I’ve found your site via Google and I’m really happy about the information you provide in your articles If anybody have some time please visit money making forex website – click forex trading course
it really is a How much time do you spend updating this blog every day? I think the second paragraph pretty much says everything.
Friend.. I’m not really much into reading, but in some way I got to read lots of articles on your web site. Its incredible how useful it is for me to take a look at your site very often.