An in-Depth, Global Analysis of Smartphones, Chips & Operating Systems

Report No: 9010

In today's recessionary economy, Smartphones are projected to be one of the few bright spots in the electronics industry, with 2009 unit growth projected to be just over 13% to 164 million units.  Although this is below 2008's growth of 19%, it still represents bright opportunities for Smartphone companies and the vendors of the chips and software that enable them.  This report provides calibration and guidance for all companies that serve the cellular market.

The first-generation Smartphones were expensive and hence essentially enterprise-focused, catering primarily to mobile email, messaging and calendaring functions with a limited set of document viewing and productivity applications.  However, the widespread adoption of 3G networks and price erosion has resulted in a significant growth of Smartphones in the consumer market. The two fundamental market trends driving the next-generation consumer Smartphones are – Mobile Internet and Mobile Multimedia. Consequently, market dynamics and the mobile Internet ecosystem are the central focuses of this study.

This extensive (600-page) study details the top 24 Smartphone vendors and their 2008 shipments and provides matrices of specifications for their many Smartphone models, including details well beyond those published by the vendors. It also provides dozens of detailed Smartphone and operating system forecasts by global region and by air interface technology for each through 2013.

The study keys in on the desirable features of Smartphones and profiles the vendors and their distinctive approaches.  It also forecasts the components that go into these devices, including key integrated circuits like digital basebands, RF transceivers and PA's, communication processors, application processors, graphics, multi-touch screen controllers, memories and chips for all the new functions being added to Smartphones...like camera sensors, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM, GPS, Mobile TV, NFC, fingerprint sensors, accelerometers, etc.

AUTHORS

Satish Menon is a co-author of this report and an independent consultant and Forward Concepts Senior Analyst specializing in communications electronics. Most recently, Satish was Chief Technology Officer for a facilities-based provider of wholesale and retail voice telecommunication services where he architected a distributed, high-availability voice network that unified several circuit-based and packet-based protocols into a single packet-core network based on SIP protocol.  Prior to this, he was founder and VP Product Development for Nuntius Systems, Inc. where he was responsible for all engineering activities that included activities involving voice codecs, GSM/GPRS/EDGE baseband/MAC, DSP based lower-power WLAN baseband/MAC and multimedia codecs. Mr. Menon led a multi-disciplinary team of over 120 engineers and was responsible for building several successful products from concept to completion, over a seven year period.  His background includes product management in areas of wireless technology and platforms, real-time embedded systems, DSP implementations of wired/wireless technology and communication protocol stacks along with product positioning and strategic planning expertise. Mr. Menon has also consulted with several high-tech companies in the areas of communication and multimedia technology. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from REC, Trichy, India and his Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from University of Southern California.

Carter L. Horney, a recognized authority on microprocessor and DSP implementation in telecommunications, is also a co-author of this report.  Mr. Horney is an independent consultant and Forward Concepts Associate specializing in semiconductor product strategy and market planning.  He was formerly Division Planner for Rockwell International’s Digital Communications Division and earlier Strategic Marketing manager for Rockwell’s Semiconductor Products Division.  Mr. Horney was responsible for the product planning, which led Rockwell (now Conexant Systems) to dominate the worldwide FAX and high-speed modem chip market.  He was appointed a Rockwell Engineering Fellow and received many commendations for outstanding achievement in Computer Architecture, Engineering, Technical Marketing, Product Planning and Customer Relations.  Mr. Horney has a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics and an M.S. in Mathematics from Western Illinois University.

EDITOR

Will Strauss, President of Forward Concepts, is an internationally-recognized authority on markets driven by DSP Technology, including wireless, and was a contributor to this study.

Size
607 Pages, 64 Figures, 152 Tables, plus Appendix

Price
Hard Copy (B&W):
North American Price: $3,750.00
Additional copies: $500 ea.
International Price: $3,850.00
Additional copies: $550 ea.

Electronic (pdf):
Enterprise License : $7,500.00 (worldwide)

Under the Enterprise License, the report is provided in electronic form (PDF), with the right to distribute to the purchasing organization’s employees, worldwide.