05 August 2009

Chris McFann's Emotional Rebuttal To
Strategy Analytics' Article From Last Weekend

SF's highly respected mobile industry analyst and editor, Chris McFann has posted an emotional rebuttal to the Strategy Analytics' article from the last weekend and statement that Symbian's dominance is fading as mobile software platform market becomes more crowded.

Anyway, here is the part of the article and the full rebuttal is available over at forum section.

Most of the Symbian Foundation members are waiting on the new UI to be hardened with the new OS before dedicating any significant R&D to new devices, but Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, Fujitsu, Huawei and Sharp have all expressed plans to release Symbian^3/4 devices in the next 2-3 years. It is necessary to appeal to the smartphone market, of which 50% prefers Symbian OS devices.

Only Motorola has seemed to abandoned Symbian, but this isn't entirely true. They have simply focused on the highest growth OS, Android, in the highest profit market, the US, to stymie its bleeding bottom line. They know they had a 3 year window until Symbian^3/4 was hardened, and they needed a new solution now, and wisely chose Android. They could return to Symbian as well once the Foundation begins releasing code for implementation.

What everyone must remember is these "dangerous competitor OSes" are really insignificant when you consider their global market share, especially outside the US. The "competitors" are basically RIM, Android, and OSX Mobile. Let's take the global 2009 q1 market share numbers at face value.

In all actuality, this analysis report contradicts itself. While titled "Symbian's Dominance Fading...", Stuart Robinson, Director of Handset Technologies rebuts by saying whoever has a strong consumer focus and big R&D pockets will maintain a competitive advantage, and he's "placing his bets on... Symbian". Huh? See what I mean? The situation is misleading. Symbian has a massive shadow on the industry. Like the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, all eyes are on them, and any losses are considered major. It is of concern, but was expected, as Nokia said last year. It went as they predicted, and as they foresaw, they were able to save money, maintain profitability, and keep most of the globe's consumers to themselves. This is good smart business, and not anything less.

Symbian will relaunch in 18 months with a majority of the market because of its strong position. It will grow exponentially because consumers are curious, America is still growing, and Symbian UI, based on Qt, is rumored to be spectacular. We'll have to wait and see, but I'd place my bets on the top smartphone OS, the top device makers, and the multidisciplinary developer support the OS provides. Don't always put so much stock in the pundits, because frankly, most of them don't have a clue what they're talking about.