Smartphone market to be a tough nut to crack for PC makers?

Market research firm expects that many personal computer (PC) vendors will jump into the smartphone arena over the next few years (or already have). With computer sales not growing as they used to, PC vendors will need to look at new opportunities for continued growth.

The smartphone market shows a lot promise. In 2009 alone, it grew by 29 percent year-over-year to reach 180 million units in 2009. Next year, customers are expected to spend more on smartphones than on consumer notebooks. Smarphone revenues could top S$191 billion by 2012 (compared to US$152 billion for notebooks in 2012).

But PC vendors could have a tough road ahead of them. Aside from Apple, PC vendors cumulatively have less than 1 percent of the current smartphone market. Gartner does not see any PC vendor’s share growing beyond 2 percent over the next three years.

Gartner has identified a number of challenges that PC vendors will face:

  • Smartphones are not “cut-down” versions of mobile PCs. Technical specifications are less important.
  • The distribution channel for mobile phones is controlled largely by mobile operators.
  • Brand and user experience are significant differentiators for mobile handsets.
  • Handset vendors are set to dominate the market for mobile internet devices (MIDs) due to their better understanding of internet usage behaviour.
  • Consumerisation opens the door to consumer smartphones in the organisation – it’s not the IT manager who makes the decision.

As smartphones continue to become more powerful, we are already seeing signs that smartphones can replace PCs (and other devices) for certain functions. Challenges or not, PC vendors likely do not have much of a choice…

Read more about this story