The mobile telecommunication industry has come age with new competition fronts

For a long time now, I have counted myself as a techie and more so, a mobile computing enthusiast. A lot has changed since the invention of the mobile phone both with regard to platforms, design and even functionality... The phones where way bigger and exclusive, they were shrunk and made for the masses. They even do more than calling from being data storage devices, music players, cameras to navigational devices. New frontiers have opened where manufacturers can flex their achievements as a result of research and development. A lot was invested in imaging, call quality and even shapes. In this period, the likes of Sony and Nokia led and the rest followed up until mid-2000. It seems now people can’t live without a cell phone, especially Smartphone. We use it to browse the internet, send and receive Emails, stream videos, and play games or listen to music. Some people even take their handset wherever they go.

Apple having been a predominantly a PC manufacture got into to the mobile telecommunication industry with the launch of iPhone, a phone with a touch user interface ousting Sony Ericsson and Nokia as the market leaders. As a result a secretive collaboration with AT&T Mobility—Cingular Wireless at the time—at an estimated development cost of US$150 million over thirty months. The success of Apple was as a result of its leader Steve Jobs and the capitalization on the pop culture. This could have not been a success without a well done list of patents as a result of a good investment in research and development and product development (the customer does not know what he wants...). Apart from all that, apple had and still has a good market approach that has been duplicated by the likes of Samsung who now have key note speeches on product launch days...

Of late, the competition has gotten so tough that court battles with regard to copyright infringements have become the order of the day. Some manufacturers have been accused of copying with pride. Some have stuck to the traditions and as a result have been left behind when it comes to market share.

The most futuristic market still remains to be Japan and South Korea, where the phones have special features as compared to those in markets such as the United States. Mobile service providers like NT NTT DoCoMo have always pushed the boundaries when it comes to the technology they deploy and the kind of handsets they have in stock. It is only in Japan where you will find smartphones with TV, infrared and water resistant. Most Japanese handset manufacturers apart from Sony and Fujitsu are unknown to a majority of the rest of the world. Sony has however managed to be popular all around the world with its latest flagship selling out within days, in every country it launched in. Popular brands from South Korea arte LG and Samsung with the latter being a world market leader in mobile phone shipment last year.

So far so good, but the bar has been set way high by every phone manufacturer. I am not talking about the likes of Jones phone and the Chinese knockoffs or the emerging world unknown feature phone manufacturers. Let's take a look at the top five; Apple, RIM, Sony, HTC, Samsung... They all have pushed the boundaries when it comes to mobile telecommunications, business practices and value addition. RIM has been well known world over when it comes to its operating system's security features, connectivity and support. This made it a preferred brand by the US government and many global organizations that value privacy and reliability. The problem with being at the top is that one becomes oblivious of what the markets dictate and even the continuous evolution of a modern day consumer. It took a while for RIM to adopt 3G on its handsets when the rest of the competition was doing it comfortably despite 3G being such a battery hog. Nokia, HTC and RIM have been big doubters of the tablet as well as the phablet craze and this seen them take quite a beating with regard to market share. The biggest success has been Apple and Samsung who seem to competing against each other with as much law suits, aggressive marketing and digging deep in their patents for newer designs.

As far as all the above advancements have come to pass, it cannot go without noticing the role played software developers on different platforms of operating systems. Mobile phones are no longer what they are just referred to as no matter how simple they are. Mobile phones are now computers with platforms on which any imaginable digital activities can be performed. A decade ago, mobile money services like m-pesa were unheard of and if they were ever thought of, then most definitely not on the simplest of the mobile phone platform the sms. Safaricom is globally known for pioneering M-pesa money transfer services that has been replicated the world over and won the mobile service provider many awards. Mobile money transfer is big business that is yet to take off in many parts of the world but everyone is highly bullish about it. It is a value addition service that dynamic subject to a given country's financial regulation and flexibility. Currently it relies on short text and personal identification with not much legal regulation especially to money laundering, the technology behind this is still as basic as it can be but many fronts such as near field communication (NFC) present so much with regard to security feature integration as well as off the counter transactions such as vending machines and parking lots. Other technologies that have been developed as a result of mobile phone industry development span from fields as broad as banking, home automation, research, healthcare, sales and marketing, education and even travel not forgetting the development of mobile phone applications that are utilized on both smart phones and feature phones.

Smart phone manufacturers have really set standards when it comes to processing power, user experience and even the screen size. The four major mobile operating systems are Android from Google, IOS from Apple, Windows from Microsoft and BBM from RIM. However the two major players have been IOS and Android and it can as well be said that it is a two horse race. Symbian ones a mobile operating system software owned is as dead as a Dodo. It had such a great success but appears like it could not take the likes of IOS and Android head on. Nokia had this software running on their phones but they switched to Windows mobile which has seen a simple but steady growth, many were surprised to see this happen given that this was like a merger of two old horses and for sure it has not been a bed of roses. Had Nokia bet on Android, then this could have been a different story all together. RIM's Blackberry has had a bitter fight to stay at the top in vain. From the OS revamp to the adoption touch screen and 3G, maybe it’s time was just up. Samsung being a world leaders with a well-known android skin customization known as touch wiz seems to be betting on a newer operating system called Tizen that it might adopt in the near future apart from running Android or maybe even have a dual boot capability on its flagships with all that computing power.

Smartphone Operating System Highlights

Android continued its overall upward trajectory, reaching triple-digit growth for the year. Samsung was the biggest contributor to Android's success, amassing 42.0% of all Android smartphone shipments during the year. Following Samsung was a long list of vendors with single digit market share, and an even longer list of vendors with market share less than one percent. The intra-Android competition has not stifled companies from keeping Android as the cornerstone of their respective smartphone strategies, but has upped the ante to innovate proprietary experiences.

iOS posted yet another quarter and year of double-digit growth with strong demand for the iPhone. But what also stands out is how iOS's year-over-year growth has slowed compared to the overall market. The smaller volumes during 2Q12 and to a smaller extent 3Q12 underscore the possibility for a mid-year iPhone release in order to maintain market-beating growth. Speculation about the release of possible larger-screen and inexpensive models during the middle of 2013 continues to follow Apple, which would help sustain growth. But until any model is formally announced, speculation remains simply that.

BlackBerry's decision to postpone the release of BB10 to 2013 left the platform vulnerable in 2012 and reliant primarily on older smartphones running on BB7. As a result, BlackBerry's tight grip on enterprise users has loosened and its popularity within emerging markets has been diminished by the competition. Now that BlackBerry has unveiled BB10, the company is faced with migrating current BlackBerry users to upgrade while persuading smartphone users of other platforms, including previous BlackBerry users, to switch.

Windows Phone/Windows Mobile made market-beating progress in 4Q12 and 2012. The addition of Nokia's strong commitment behind the platform was the key driver in Microsoft's success. At the same time, the relationship has benefited Nokia, which amassed 76.0% of all Windows Phone/Windows Mobile smartphone shipments. Beyond Nokia, however, is a short list of other vendors who have been experimenting with Windows Phone while also supporting Android.

Linux has remained essentially flat from the previous year, with longtime supporters NEC and Panasonic moving to Android and newcomers K-Touch and Haier making up the difference. Linux will bear close observation in 2013 as new smartphones from SailFish, Tizen, and Ubuntu are all scheduled to launch this year. Still, these new Linux-powered operating systems will require time and investment to gain momentum in the market, making for a slowly growing trajectory.

It might walk like a duck, “If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck” this statement might not hold much when it comes to Samsung built quality. I might sound like a "hater" but Samsung has a reputation of having the cheapest built quality in comparison to the likes of HTC, Sony, and Apple. I am a great admirer of how much Samsung has done to get to the number one spot but the built quality has really been neglected. Holding any of the galaxy line of brands gives a cheap plastic feel even the Nokia 3310 feels better because it has a more solid feel. There could be more premium manufacturers out there that make phones with precious metals and more argonomic designs but I am not talking about that. For a long time, apple has been known to design timeless phones with greater feel as well as a very easy to use operating system. Next in line with regard to design with a few awards here and there has been Sony with its NXT Xperia line of phones but HTC has been admired by many the world over as well as here in Kenya. Talking about HTC, all has not been well for the company for the last one year and everyone thinks it’s high time it redeemed itself before it sinks lower than RIM. Well the launch of HTC One seems to be doing wonders for this death bed brand. HTC one has been termed as the smart phone that will most definitely take the phone of the year award this year. I am yet to get a hold of it since I am far away from its market but all review sites cannot be wrong. HTC one is a phone that  has made both apple and Samsung rethink their products, built quality with even a rumored unibody Galaxy Note III.

 Zach Epstein says "The One combines an impeccable design, a sleek aluminum body, sturdy construction, well-made software and a handful of innovative features into a single package that is class-leading in almost every regard. The fit and finish are outstanding and the latest version of Sense is elegant and smooth". A single smartphone is not going to reverse HTC’s fortunes. The competition is too fierce and HTC’s current slump is far too severe. But with the right combination of marketing, significant carrier support and a little luck, the One could very well be a turning point for HTC. I must say I am already sold to HTC one given that Sony Xperia range brand which I have been a loyal fan of does not have a good after sales support with OS updates longer than a year from launch even with flagships such as the Xperia 10 and the Xperia S the latter which has not received a single firmware update in more six months and yet it is full of bugs and sluggish.

With the Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note III, Google’s “X Phone,” new RAZR handsets, a new flagship Optimus G and plenty more due to launch this year, competition at the high end of the smartphone market will be fiercer than ever before. But unless something truly unexpected pops up, the HTC One will almost certainly be the best all-around Android phone to launch in 2013. The One includes all of the features that make a hit and none of the big compromises we’re typically forced to accept, and in that regard it changes everything.

Samsung is well-known for their vigorous attempts to grab every potential slice of market share that they can. They have a mind-boggling 27 different screen sizes across their lineup. While producing that many iterations can be confusing, success is clearly the result as they now ship more smartphones than Apple or any other manufacturer.

With the amount of publicity that smartphones receive companies might be forgiven for thinking that everyone has one. They majority of people don’t, and won’t for some time yet. Today feature phones still outsell smartphones, according to Gartner (February 2013) and Canalys (January 2013). Both analysts predict that marginally more smartphones will be sold in 2013 than feature phones. Canalys believes that by 2016 smartphones will outsell feature phones by a considerable margin.