Gartner: iPhone 3G good but security concerns abound

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Thursday, 19 June 2008

Page 2 of 3 Gartner’s report is broken down into logical sections and covers every aspect of the iPhone 3G. These include: what you need to know, announcement details, analysis, interesting features, pricing issues, business applicatios, security, manageability, the iPhone halo effect, enterprise support and the bottom line. Looking at the worldwide smartphone sales to end users by vendor during Q1, 2008, Gartner places Nokia at the top of the tree with 14,588,600 units for a 45.2% market share, RIM in second spot with 4,311,814 units for a 13.4% market share and Apple with 1,725,300 units for a 5.3% market share. After that comes some surprises. Number 4 is Sharp with 1,323,800 units for a 4.1% market share, Fujitsu with slightly less at 1,317,500 units for a 4.1% market share, and “others” at 8,982,890 units for a 27.9% market share. That means a total of 32,249,904 smartphones were sold in Q1 2008! In the “analysis section”, Gartner sounds a warning for Nokia, saying: “At the initial launch, we had a measure of the potential for the iPhone, but with this announcement we can see a line, and the arrowhead of that line is pointed directly at Nokia, the leader.” The report continues: “Apple as a consumer company can challenge Nokia in all the areas in which it has shown strength, such as marketing, supply chain, distribution and brand awareness. Of course, this will not happen overnight, but the implicit statement has been made.” Gartner says the “interesting features” of the iPhone 3G include the notification service which “eliminates the need for background processes on the device to monitor information and pull it down to the device” as “such background processes consume memory and battery life.” Gartner says that when Apple’s push services are implemented, they are “expected to alert users of actions to be taken at the top level of the user interface”. Gartner argues that “users don't want to hunt for important events (such as a low bank balance or new leads); they want to be notified” and that “Apple's infrastructure does this.” Gartner also looks at the fact many of the improvements were enhancements but not breakthroughs, such as the addition of 3G, AGPS and an improved battery, and believes there won’t ever be a CDMA version. Gartner praised the new capabilities of the on-screen keyboard, which largely lie in the ability to work with Asian languages, and believes the 2 megapixel camera “shouldn't dissuade buyers because much of the iPhone's rich content comes from external sources”, despite the fact the camera is of a lower resolution than most competitors. Gartner also notes that despite the new price points which “make the devices appear more affordable”, users will still pay a higher cost for the device at AT&T service over the previous iPhone, “albeit in return for more value, such as higher speeds”. When it comes to business applications, Gartner says Apple has made progress, although “Apple cannot match Microsoft OEMs and RIM on back-end application integration for now”. What about security? Please read on to page 3. << First page <   1 2 3 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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