Fixed Mobile Convergence

As we step into a new decade, the smartphone market is anticipated to significantly grow. Recently, the research firm Gartner listed six best smartphones of 2009 to analyze the smartphone market as well as the trends that have come forward.

 

Gartner (News - Alert) says that 2009 saw sleeker designs, better touch screens and new applications featured in smartphones. The research firm said that smartphones were the fastest-growing segment of mobile phone market in 2009, with sales rising from over 318 million units in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 411 million last quarters.

 

In general, Research in Motion, Apple, Google, Motorola and Palm saw huge gains from their smartphone businesses. RIM’s BlackBerry (News - Alert) products held 20 percent of the market all year, while Apple’s iPhone’s share went from 11 percent to 17 percent. However, Nokia’s share plunged from 47 percent at the end of last year to 39 percent last quarter.

 

According to the research firm, Apple’s iPhone (News - Alert) 3GS topped the list of best smartphones, while Motorola Droid, T-Mobile MyTouch 3G by HTC, Palm Pre, BlackBerry Storm 2 and Nokia N97 followed iPhone.

 

Priced anywhere between $200 to $300, Apple iPhone3GS stood out in the 2009 smartphone market as the best, due to many reasons. According to research firm IDC, the number of apps on iPhone has approached nearly 300,000. In addition, the 16- to 32-gigabytes of memory and upgrades to the iPhone OS have provided great relief for users. Apart from the video recording and voice dialing features, its GSM digital format has made the device a friendlier choice as global travel companion. In spite of few set-backs in basic features, iPhone topped in U.S. market, due to the fact that AT&T offered an attractive plan.

 

Motorola Droid stood second in the list. The main strength of this touch device is Google handling the Web browser and mapping/GPS features. In addition, the 5-megapixel camera, micro USB port, micro-SD port, and seven hours of talk time gave this smartphone popularity. However, the Verizon network on it does not allow the user to use this smartphone once outside U.S.

 

HTC’s (News - Alert) MyTouch 3G with T-Mobile’s network stood as the third best smartphone. Priced anywhere from $180 to $600, this touch screen smartphone has the capability to sync Microsoft Exchange and Outlook e-mail. In addition, it provides users with voice-command versions of Google goodies like its browser and mapping. These features were positive points about this smartphone; however its virtual keyboard makes dialing and other interface more difficult.

 

Palm Pre smartphone with Sprint (News - Alert) Nextel’s network was ranked fourth best smartphone. Since, Sprint’s service area is bigger than AT&T and T-Mobile’s, and smaller than Verizon’s service area, the Palm Pre device saw mixed responses.

 

The fifth best smartphone was BlackBerry Storm 2, according to Gartner. The positive points about this phone were: Wi-Fi connection; worldwide connectivity in spite of Verizon’ network; Microsoft and IBM synching functions; touch screen/keypad combo; and few more.

 

Nokia N97 was named the sixth best smartphone. Apart from features such as touch screen and a keypad, Bluetooth 2.0 and 5-megapixel camera with flash, this smart phone has few interesting features as well such as a sliding screen that tilts upward for video viewing, useful built-in applications, and world-wide roaming. However, its price is on the higher-side compared to its counterparts.