210534 Resource 125361 207823 200444 1217964714635 1222810198386 Controlled Mobile Wars Part I: Symbian And Android Battle For Mobile Device Supremacy

by Jin Kewith Don MoreMove aside Batman and Ironman. For world domination drama, the real action this summer is off-screen and on our phones, er, mobile devices. Big handset players, notably Research in Motion and Apple, are leveraging dominance in their territories to attack each other’s turf – iPhone’s attempt to dethrone BlackBerry’s enterprise supremacy is the most notable example.   Meanwhile on the OS side, on June 24, 2008 <a title="Nokia acquires Symbian" href="http://www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1230415" target="_blank">Nokia acquired the remaining 52% of Symbian</a> it didn’t own and opened Symbian’s mobile OS platform to the public to compete with Google’s nascent-but-highly-touted Android mobile OS. Earlier this year, the Finnish company also <a title="Nokia acquires TrollTech" href="http://www.nokia.com/A4813580" target="_blank">bought cross-platform solution vendor TrollTech</a> for $153 million, and in December 2007, mobile-PC interoperating player <a title="Nokia acquires Avvenu" href="http://www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1172938" target="_blank">Avvenu</a>.  Google, lacking experience and handsets to push its platform, will be hard-pressed to take major share from the leading global platforms (see chart below) but it will be interesting to see their next move. Given the importance of mobile to Google’s ad-driven growth strategy, plus their cash and pluckiness, they are likely to do something big to follow their acquisitions of mobile social networking players, <a title="Google acquires Jaiku" href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/09/google-buys-social-mobile-startup-jaiku/" target="_blank">Jaiku</a> and <a title="Google acquires Zingku" href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/137853/google_buys_mobile_social_network_zingku.html" target="_blank">Zingku</a>, last year.<img hspace="0" src="docs/symbian.PNG" align="baseline" border="0" />While hardware device vendors are kings of the mobile value chain jungle because they own the user channel, it is software that will drive future market success. iPhone’s blockbuster sales highlight the importance of software-first (rather than feature-first) mobile devices. RIM has taken note, launching a $150 million fund last May to invest in applications and services for its BlackBerry device and other mobile platforms; it’s called <a title="BlackBerry Partners Fund" href="http://www.blackberrypartnersfund.com/pressrelease.html" target="_blank">BlackBerry Partners Fund</a>.  Kleiner Perkins similarly launched a $100 million fund in March for iPhone application vendors called <a title="iFund" href="http://www.kpcb.com/initiatives/ifund/index.html" target="_blank">iFund</a>.  Given software’s criticality to the mobile device wars, Microsoft is a looming threat, with its ubiquitous enterprise application portfolio and widely installed mobile OS. Showing it means business, in the last 12 months Microsoft spent millions snapping-up mobile technology companies. Recent Microsoft acquisitions in the mobile space:<ul><li><a title="Microsoft acquires Mobicomp" href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/jun08/06-26MobilePR.mspx" target="_blank">Mobicomp</a>: Data security & social network </li><li><a title="Microsoft acquires Danger" href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/feb08/02-11acquisition.mspx" target="_blank">Danger</a>: Mobile social network </li><li><a title="Microsoft acquires Musiwave" href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/nov07/11-12ProjectTunesPR.mspx" target="_blank">Musiwave</a>: Mobile music content </li><li><a title="Microsoft acquires ScreenTonic" href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/may07/05-03ScreenTonicPR.mspx" target="_blank">ScreenTonic</a>: Mobile ads </li><li><a title="Microsoft acquires Tellme Networks" href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/mar07/03-14powerofspeechpr.mspx" target="_blank">Tellme Networks</a>: Mobile search & FMC</li></ul>Will Google be able to incorporate the mobile space into its search-advertising juggernaut? Will Microsoft be able to take its PC OS and apps success on the road? Who will win the battle for handset supremacy? Whatever the outcome, the mobile slugfest will help drive M&A and IT venture deal volumes in an otherwise slowing year. Stay tuned as the battle heats up after Labor Day. <a href="http://technorati.com/claim/vtnhz5j6ry" rel="me">Technorati Profile</a> 10 application/xml false Apple Google internet Microsoft mobile M&A mobile technology mobility Nokia Research In Motion RIM Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; InfoPath.1) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 fbartolomey 208.82.213.22 false true false false true 125361 blog blogsite/UpdataAdvisors/web