Finnish mobile phone and communications giant
Nokia has been placed as the leading
smartphone vendor in the latest Vendor Matrix by ABI
Research.
Research in Motion (RIM) and Samsung claimed the second and
third spots respectively, followed by Samsung, Motorola, Sony
Ericsson, HTC, Sharp, HP, Palm and LG.
The Vendor Matrix is
an analytical tool designed to provide an understanding of vendors’
positions in specific markets. Vendors are assessed on the
important parameters of “innovation” and “implementation” across
several criteria unique to each vendor matrix, such as customer
wins, contract awards, global reach, market share, patents, R&D
spending, time to market and first movers, among others.
Under "innovation," ABI Research examined user interface
customisation, handset differentiation, patent portfolio, battery
life, handset size, support for third party application developers,
the presence of a common and concise API, and operating system
source code licences.
"Implementation" included smartphone shipments, brand equity,
the number of smartphone models in the range, choice of OS, the
company’s first-to-market status, its smartphone market share, its
smartphone average selling prices (ASP), its distribution network,
operator relationships, manufacturing facilities, ODM partnerships,
overall handset ASP and overall handset market share.
Commenting on the results, ABI vice president and research
director Stuart Carlaw said, “Nokia’s commitment to driving smart
OS into a wider range of devices, and the success of its N series
devices, especially the N95, gives it a huge market presence.
Looking to the future, this segment will become increasingly
crowded as Linux-based new entrants try to erode Nokia’s
position.”