Smartphones: The fight for No 3

There is an interesting position vacant at the top and its a lucrative one too- to occupy the third position among the smartphone makers in the world, as the top positions are already occupied by Samsung and Apple. Expectedly, they will hold these top two positions for a pretty good period. So the fight is no more for the top two positions but for the number 3 position and there some good contenders in the race, each having their strengths and weaknesses. However, the time is running out for this viable position for worthy contenders like Nokia, RIM, HTC and not ignoring LG and Sony.

If we go by the latest comScore report, 61.5% of new smartphone buyers are picking various Android devices, and 25.2% are choosing Apple's iPhone, making 86.7% reserved for this two platforms. It leaves very little scope for players like Nokia who uses windows as a platform and RIM with its own proprietary OS. Certainly, they would be fighting their heart out but just for 13.3% of the smartphone pie.

If we look at Nokia, HTC and RIM as the closest contenders for the #3 spot, then the recent developments do not give a comfortable picture. Nokia, who was ga ga over its collaboration with Microsoft for its Windows platform, has got a very lukewarm response for its Lumia series barring the initial phase. Worse, the company does not have any other platform, as of now, to go for in developing its smartphones. Clearly visible to the industry about its outcome but the Finnish company is away from using a platform that more than 70% of new smartphone buyers are buying- android. And they can no way use iOS. Past experiements of windows platform have failed and Nokia is solely relying on it. There is little hope that Microsoft can bail out Nokia from its current deteriorating situation.

HTC, the other worthy contender and a specialist in making smartphones, has been struggling financially for last two quarters. The condition is so bad that the Taiwanese firm is looking at closing down its South Korea office very soon. Moreover, in its own admission, the firm has been revising its estimates and revenue expectations, directing south. However, its latest launch, HTC One X seems to be going great guns for the firm and tech reviewers around the globe have said it to be only iPhone killer developed so far. Many geeks even have gone a step further to say that the HTC One X is much better that the recently released iPhone 5!. No one underestimates the capability of HTC in bringing out a great product that can give a tough fight to any smartphone under the sun, but positions do not remain vacant for too long, and HTC needs to pull up its socks before its too late.

Canadian tech firm RIM has always been regarded as different from the herd and it had a league of its own. But it was history. They do not have anything of their 'own' now, and the company is struggling to find out its USP, as push mail service is no more their prerogative now. Every smartphone offers that these days. The company, though, is trying too hard and exploring all routes to bring its old glory back, so far it has not yielded any desired result. Even, shaking up the top management has not bore any sweet fruit yet.

Interestingly, the weapon for the battle of success is software, and not hardware anymore. Without software differentiation or cutting-edge hardware designs, device manufacturers must compete on scale and price, and it seems android and Apple have all the cards in their pack, with little scope for proprietary platforms. It would be interesting to see who, among the contenders, does something disruptive to capture the third position, and the question is how soon.