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It is plain for all to see that Apple and Google are on the up. Google’s share price grew 10% last year whilst Apple’s share price has more than tripled in the past 24 months. Apple have just released record Q1 results this week. Notwithstanding Steve Jobs’ health issues the future looks rosy.
This growth is creating nervousness in certain quarters. Some operators are calling for Apple, Google etc to pay for future network developments to sustain the data hungry services they provide. However it is the growth of their respective operating systems which is the latest cause for concern. Apple’s iOS has grown rapidly but still only accounts for less than 20% of smartphones sold in the third quarter of 2010 whilst Google’s Android has grown from 3.5% a year ago to 25%. Apple’s proprietary OS is destined solely for their own devices whereas Google’s Android is free for all device manufacturers. Nokia’s 40% market share is falling.
As a duopoly position is a real possibility Vodafone, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom have created a panel to monitor this area of the market to identify if there are any unfair tactics.
It will be fascinating to see how the situation develops. Will we see some handsets subsidised to create a broader range of operating systems? Operators will need to avoid anti-competitive practices but perhaps their concerns lie more in who controls the mobile advertising space.
I welcome your thoughts on how you see this area of the market developing.
Steve Blake - Technology, Media & Telecommunications, Interim Partners.
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January 20th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
It has been said that it cannot be paranoid if the threat/risk is real. That said… These markets are working oligopolies but not true monopolies. Practical experience has demonstrated repeatedly how dynamic and changeable the high tech and telecom markets have been over the last 30 years. For example, IBM dominated the PC desktop and laptop markets in the early 80s and againint he early 90s only to surplanted by leaner and more competitive competitors such as DELL Computer using on-time supply chain models. Likewise, Apple has also reinvented itself numerous times over the years for better and worse. The mobile and cloud computing marketplaces will surely be the most contested