The Smartphone Song Remains the Same

By Michael Comeau Technology-driven industries are supposed to be fast-moving, unpredictable, and in a constant state of evolution. Now it's been quite a while since I've written about the smartphone industry -- 231 days to be exact. The world has certainly changed in that time span.

(To see Kevin Depew's piece, "Five Things You Need to Know: US Dollar Collapse Intensifies", click here.)

Japan fell prey to a nuclear disaster. Egypt was plunged into political and social chaos. Civil war has overtaken Libya. "Don't ask, don't tell" was repealed. President Obama finally revealed his birth certificate. NFL owners locked out their players. And so on. So, I find it pretty amazing that absolutely nothing has changed in the smartphone industry.

(To view Carol Kopp's article, "A Week of Web Disasters, Real and Imaginary", click here.)

As of June 30, 2010, the dominant trends were obvious to anyone paying attention: * The overall market was booming * Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and Google's (GOOG) Android operating system were taking over * Nokia (NOK) and Research In Motion (RIMM) were losing ground Read on, and you'll see that the song has absolutely, positively, remained the same. The Big Picture On February 7th, IDC reported that smartphone shipments surpassed PC shipments for the fourth quarter of 2011, marking an important first for the mobile-computing industry. Then in late March, IDC said it expected the smartphone market to grow 49% in 2011, following a blistering 74% increase in 2010.

(To read Quint Tatro's story, "Companies to Consider for Longer-Term Holds", click here.)

That's the good news. The bad news is that the market is clearly fractured, and the rising tide is not lifting all ships. Yesterday's wave of post-close news makes this point crystal clear.

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