Telecom Lead India: Smartphone major Samsung has
overtaken Nokia to launch the first smartphone on Microsoft’s Windows 8 mobile
software platform.
Samsung became the first handset maker to announce a smartphone
using Microsoft’s latest mobile software. Nokia is planning to unveil its new
Lumia line of smartphones using Windows Phone 8 in New York on September 5.
Samsung is also trying to showcase to the world that the
smartphone major will not suffer due to the US court verdict that it needs to
pay more than $1 billion towards damages.
Analysts said HTC, Huawei, Nokia and Samsung devices may
not be sufficient enough to bring Windows Phone 8 in pole position by the
year-end.
Microsoft needs to quadruple its quarterly Windows Phone
shipments to have a significant impact in the smartphone market by year-end.
Microsoft lacks exclusive OS partnerships on flagship
devices. HTC and Samsung were also launch partners for Windows Phone 7 and
that wasn’t enough. Samsung’s Windows Phone 8 smartphone the ATIV S will have
to face tough competition from Android-based Samsung Galaxy S3 and the iPhone
5. With nearly 50m smartphone shipments per quarter, Samsung is the most
important OS partner to have at the moment.
Windows 8 has better chances to carve market share in the
tablet market with the Surface and its Windows RT partners.
Android’s market share in the tablet market is much lower
than it is for smartphones creating more room for a third OS like Windows 8 to
emerge.
Ronan de Renesse, principal analyst, Mobile Content
and Applications and Mobile Broadband and Devices research
programs, Analysys Mason, said the low and mid-end segment tablet market
isn’t yet fully addressed and will grow significantly in the coming years.
Microsoft can leverage its brand awareness in the PC market to attract tablet
customers who see tablets as a replacement to laptops.
Media tablets powered by Microsoft Windows 8 and Windows RT
will have an impact on the overall market. Windows-based tablets will commence
shipments at the end of October and capture an estimated 1.5 percent of total
tablet shipments for 2012, according to ABI Research.
Samsung’s Samsung’s ATIV S Windows phone sports a
high-end 4.8-inch display, Corning Gorilla glass, and an 8-megapixel rear
camera and 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera.
The launch of Samsung’s Windows phone may be designed to
assuage concerns that Microsoft will favor Nokia.
Samsung said the ATIV phone would hit stores in the
October-November period but did not give an exact start date.
editor@telecomlead.com
