So What After the Mobile Era? (Mobile in Focus #3)

Looking backwards it seems relatively easy to spot the trend that pushed us towards mobile, with 3 strong drivers: a dramatic fall in communication costs, as well as in electronic storage costs and a large increase in computing power.
The combination of these three facts have transformed what were once common cell phones into computing powerhouses, with the firepower to run large applications and do things better than most computers did 5 years ago.  Here's a quick chart showing the stage by stage evolution of the  main computing eras of the last 50 years:

The appearance of tablets and e-readers, added to the already popular smartphones, has pushed this trend into main street faster than expected.  The unexpected runaway success of the iPad has spurred innovation in the tablet terrain (which is part of the mobile world) and the fight between iOS and Android operating systems has reached an interesting stage, where neither claim victory yet each focus on different succcess factors to stretch their platform (iOS its ease of use, Android its free nature).
The amount of devices connected at this point is though to be in excess of 10 billion, 7 of which are feature and smartphones, then tablets and e-readers, and other connected devices (iPod Touch, wireless game consoles, etc.).  The amazing thing at this point is not he current number but the rate of growth and expansion of this marketspace, paired with the strong competition among manufacturers and software platforms alike.
The fact that there are also relevant service providers fighting for the mobile space (Facebook, Amazon, square, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) seems a relevant factor in determining the health and potential of the market.  In a way, it is they that ignite the interest and generate more usage from clients, thus adding value overall to the mobile platform.  In the value network, both developers and software houses play a critical role in feeding he network, without them the users would basically have nothing to do on the mobile internet.
All in all, it seems the tech wars include a major mobile component which cannot be disregarded.  Although the mobile era seems in its infancy ... it might be getting to its teenage years faster than anyone would have thought, and Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Google and Microsoft certainly still have a word or two to say about it...

In 2012, Android confirms its leadership in Mobile Operating Systems (Mobile in Focus #2)

As in many high-tech markets, network effects apply very clearly in mobile operating systems.  These effects usually result in a market tipping, that is to say, creating a competitive situation where winner takes all, leaving little space for strong contenders.
The winner before 2008 was clearly Nokia's Symbian, who was busy fending off upstart Apple, who took in 1 year a large chunk of its business.  2009 and 2010 were the years when Android spread like wildfire, reaching a share of 30-40% and becoming #1 mobile Operating System in terms of units.  It is important to mention this (market share of units), because performance differs greatly when we look at market share of sales and profits (refer to this article).  In 2011, Symbian bit the dust, BlackBerry and Windows ceded ground and the battle became a face-off between Apple iOS's integrated hardware and software platform versus Google Android's fragmented licensing approach.

For 2012 and later, estimates are a replay of 2011, with Android controlling over 50% of the shipments and iOS holding on to 25% approximately, and the rest far behind.  Android seems to want to replay the battle that Microsoft fought and won over Apple in the desktop PC market 25 years ago in this new smartphone market. In that case, Microsoft's licensing approach was best fit to a model of explosive growth channeled through OEMs like HP, Compaq, Dell, etc., while in this case, the specifics of the network effects seem to be a bit different.
In the PC market, Apple was unable to generate indirect effects for developers and retailers with a share which shrunk below 5% of the units.  With 25% of the units, in the market of smartphones, Apple seems to be in pretty good shape, generating a larger than proportional customer base (adding iPod and iPad users, and considering the iOS platform as one).  Also, in terms of developer preference (here) and third-party sales (here), Apple is the big winner in the market.  Therefore, it is able to maintain its position as a strong contender to Android, who is, by the way, suffering largely due to platform fragmentation, as seen here:

What is expected of the smartphone market? Analysts speculate that Android and iOS will coexist - maybe not so peacefully - while a new chapter of this fight is fought out in the tablet market ...

2012 is the Year of Mobile Explosion (Mobile in Focus #1)

Last year, and for the first time ever, shipments of smartphones overtook shipments of PCs.  As smartphones become more powerful and mimic most of the PCs processing capabilities, it should be an important fact.  We are slowly migrating from a PC-centric world to a mobile world, embedded with "on-the-go" mobile broadband connections.  It is relevant because it is the new place where the fight for high-tech dominance is taking place, and also because attention is so mucho more difficult to capture than it was 10 years ago in the PC era.

Mobile devices (smartphones, tablets and e-readers) hold roughly 70% of the shipment volume, according to market information from Gartner and IDC.  If we consider that in 2005 we did not even know the term smartphone, it is truly a magnificent feat.  As feature phones disappear and are replaced by smartphones, a world of new services becomes available to the user (via the apps sellers), a domain largely dominated by Apple and its iOS ecosystem with over 600 million active devices.  Android, in spite of representing a large majority of these devices, has followed - as we will see in an upcoming Mobile in Focus post- a fragmented approach which might help it become the market leader in units but not in preference and overall quality.

So just how well are the big guys doing here? In a world dominated by mobile devices, the high-tech giants must strive to conquer this new landscape.  Apple, in this case, sells the most successful and desired smartphone; Google provides the most widely used mobile Operating System (although it is not competing as a manufacturer, but rather as a licensor of the OS), Amazon is quickly adapting its applications to better suit the mobile world and has entered the hardware fight with its Kindle Fire tablet (based on Android OS), and Facebook is pushing to convert as soon as possible as many as possible of its users into mobile users of tools such as Facebook Messenger and Instagram, and it is rumored to be launching a branded phone soon ... the best is yet to come!