For the last few years, Apple has had an exclusive mobile phone distribution contract for the sale of the iPhone with AT&T. Both have benefited from this arrangement. But now, Apple is poised to make Verison a secondary distribution company. Why is this happening? Largely because of what something that Gartner research has uncovered. That Android may overtake Symbian as the dominant smartphone operating system.
If you look at the chart, this means that if Apple wants to be a player, it will have to compete with Android and the other mobile OS technologies in a way that it hasn’t done so yet. In otherwords, it has dominated it’s part of the market based on one delivery method, AT&T. But it is now where near where it would like to be if it wants to stay in the long race. After all, Android, has made arrangements with many different companies, like wise Symbian, the current market share leader has multiple distribution points. But not Apple.
Smart Phone Market Share
According to Gartner, by 2014, Android will be close to dominating the market, surpassing Symbian.
MarketShare Now and Up to 2014
So increasing market share is one of the driving forces that are making Apple look at increasing its distribution options.
This is necessary because Gartner expects smartphone manufacturers like Samsung to launch many new budget Android devices. This will drive Android into new mass-market segments. Other manufacturers, such as Sony Ericsson, LG and Motorola, may pursue a similar strategy. This trend should help Android become the top OS for mobile phones in North America by the end of 2010.
The other thing that may hamstring Apple is the open-source platform, which Android follows, but Apple avoids. Gartner expects that sometime in 2014, the open-source platform will dominate more than 60 percent of the market for smartphones. For Apple and Research In Motion, both Single-source platforms, they may see an increase in individual unit terms, however, their growth rate will not be on a competitve par and be below market average. This will not be enough to sustain a market share increase.
Mobile OS Market Share
Source: Gartner Group
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