How times have changed in the smartphone market! Palm, once the manufacturer of the popular Treo smartphone, went under so fast once the iPhone came out that it's now wholly owned by HP. The "iPhone effect" seems to have taken longer to catch up to RIM and Nokia, but according to Horace Dediu of Asymco both companies' smartphone shipments have fallen ... or in the case of Nokia, plunged. Meanwhile, HTC and Samsung's sales have steadily grown in volume.
What do these two companies have in common, and what mistakes are RIM and Nokia making?
They're not using Android
Google's open-source Android operating system was a game-changer. Where previous generations of smartphones often licensed the Windows Mobile OS from Microsoft, it was suddenly woefully inadequate once the iPhone came out. And it wasn't until 2010 that Microsoft finally released its updated Windows Phone 7 operating system, leaving the door wide open for a competitor to fill the vacuum.
Google didn't even charge money for its OS. True, apps like Google Maps and the Android Market weren't open-source, and couldn't be used without asking Google's permission. And Microsoft now extorts money for each Android smartphone sold by at least one company, thanks to the United States' broken patent law. But Android itself is still free to use, and companies like HTC and Samsung have both taken advantage of it ... in Samsung's case, to create eerily-identical copies of the iPhone. And in HTC's, to create what are (in my completely unbiased opinion as someone who owns one of them) unique works of art.
The Apple conundrum
Unlike Samsung and HTC, RIM and Nokia both have their own operating systems; BlackBerry in RIM's case, and Symbian in Nokia's. The thing is, though, this is a trait that they have in common with Apple. How come it works in Apple's case, and doesn't in theirs?
The answer may be found in Apple's design-centric culture, where engineers and designers alike are constantly challenged to make something extraordinary. Meanwhile, RIM is paralyzed by corporate process, according to an anonymous leak to Boy Genius Report. And Nokia's reportedly male-centric and engineering-centric culture bypassed "considerations of user experience ... at a structural level," according to former employee Alan Greenfield. Meaning, it couldn't make something like the iPhone on its own, and it was inevitable that Symbian would become the "burning platform" of CEO Stephen Elop's infamous memo.
The great equalizer
Adopting Android allowed a hardware company like Samsung to ape Apple's designs, churning out competent (if not exceptional) replacements. Meanwhile, the platform-agnostic HTC has increasingly focused on Android, using it to create high-class smartphones that use its HTC Sense interface.
Perhaps because of Android's equalizing power, Apple has attacked both HTC and Samsung in long legal battles, trying to (essentially) outlaw Android smartphones. What's more likely is that a settlement will be reached, giving Apple the power to levy a literal "Apple tax" on each Android handset sold, the way Microsoft does. So just as both companies' stars are rising, the United States' patent laws will allow the strong to prey on the weak and help Apple further its gains.
Despite this, Android smartphones likely aren't going anywhere but up ... unlike RIM's and Nokia's.
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