Posted 10/02/09 at 08:53:12 PM by Paul Lilly

According to market research firm iSuppli, Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS for smartphones will outflank most of the competition, nearly triple its userbase, and take the No. 2 spot in the global market, all by the year 2013.

As it stands, Windows Mobile can be found on 27.7 million smartphones, but if iSuppli's prediction proves accurate, that number will balloon to 67.9 million in just a few years, giving Windows Mobile a 15.3 percent share of the global market. Should that happen, only Symbian would claim more users, who iSuppli says will control 47.5 percent of the market.

So what's the catch?  Put simply, Windows Mobile 7 will have to succeed and kick ass. As competition heats up, Microsoft can't afford to "screw up" again and fall further behind its competitors.

"Microsoft in 2010 will introduce an updated version of its operating system, Windows Mobile 7, which is expected to sport an enhanced user interface and browser as well as multi-touch control," Tina Teng, senior wireless communications analyst for iSuppli, said in a report. "This will make it much more competitive with the alternatives on the market."

Let's first see if WIndows Mobile 6.5 -- slated for an October 6 release -- is enough to keep WinMo users from jumping ship before Microsoft sets sail with version 7.

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Posted 09/15/09 at 08:56:22 AM by Paul Lilly

No doubt helped in large part by the explosive growth of netbooks (and, by association, Atom processors), Intel in the second quarter pushed its lead over AMD and everyone else to levels not seen in nearly four years, says market research firm iSuppli.

The No. 1 chip maker accounted for 80.6 percent of global microprocessor revenue, compared to 79.1 percent during the same period in 2008. That was enough to give Intel its largest share of global microprocessor revenue since the third quarter of 2005, when it claimed 82.4 percent of revenue.

Even still, Intel actually suffered a decline in microprocessor revenue compared to a year ago due to still stagnant PC shipments, noted Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst of compute platforms research for iSuppli. But so did AMD, whose Q2 market share stands at a distant 11.5 percent.

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Posted 07/14/09 at 08:32:47 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Google must be pleased to see the market for 3G netbooks swelling at a time when it is preparing to launch Chrome OS. Market research firm iSuppli anticipates 3G netbooks – those with embedded wireless broadband – to become even more popular in the next few years, as always-on internet becomes an integral part of the whole netbook experience. iSuppli expects 3G netbook shipments to increase by over 70%, as compared to the previous year, to reach 17.8 million units this year.

But a spike in netbook shipments doesn’t imply that it would be smooth sailing for Google’s Chrome OS. “Google must counter the high visibility of the Microsoft brand name on countless products in retail outlets, ranging from software, to PCs, to peripherals,” iSuppli advised Google.

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Posted 07/14/09 at 03:14:11 PM by Paul Lilly

Like The Little Engine That Could, the worldwide PC market kept chugging onward against all economic odds, pushed in large part by an emerging netbook market that seemingly popped up overnight. But the ultraportable PCs could only do so much to stave off the inevitable, and according to market research firm iSuppli, the global PC market will suffer its first decline in 2009 since the Dot-Com bust of 2001.

"An annual decline in unit shipments is highly unusual in the PC market," observed Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms for iSuppli. "Even in weak years, PC unit shipments typically rise by single-digit percentages. The last decline -- in 2001 -- was a 5.1 decrease in unit shipments due to the extraordinary impact of the Dot-Com bust, which caused inflated IT spending levels from the previous years to collapse."

The market research firm predicts global PC shipments to dip to 287.3 million units in 2009, marking a 4 percent drop from the 299.2 million shipments in 2008. Ironically enough, a growing notebook market -- which we assume also includes netbooks -- might be part of the reason for the overall drop in PC shipments. While notebook PC shipments will rise by 11.7 percent, desktop PC shipments, including entry-level servers, is expected to plummet 18.1 percent and is being cited as the "primary factor driving the decline of the PC market in 2009," according to iSupply.

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Posted 06/23/09 at 08:00:20 AM by Paul Lilly

While netbooks continue to put on a strong showing, worldwide PC shipments fell by the "largest historic rate" since iSuppli has been tracking the market. Shipments only totaled 66.5 million in the first quarter of 2009, an 8.1 percent backslide from the 72.3 million shipped one year ago, and 14.4 percent less than the 77.6 million shipped in Q4 2008.

"The worldwide recession sparked by the credit crisis slammed PC shipments for the second quarter in succession during the first three months of 2009," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms research at iSuppli. "The first quarter performance of the worldwide PC market was worse than iSuppli had expected in its prior forecast, which called for a 4 percent decline in shipments compared to the same period in 2008."

Disappointing desktop sales were largely responsible for decline, which saw a drop in shipments by 23 percent. Meanwhile, notebooks actually grew 10 percent compared to the same period one year ago.

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Posted 07/02/08 at 02:55:41 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Blighted chip maker AMD has something to cheer about as it has made some significant gains in the global microprocessor market in the last one year. According to research firm iSuppli, AMD accounted for 13% of the global revenue share, which, although down 1.1% from Q4, is an improvement of 2.2 points from Q1 of 2007.

While AMD hangs in there with long term gains, Intel witnessed good growth in Q1, 2008. Intel’s global revenue market share stood a 79.7%, up 1.2% from the preceding quarter. But there is a slight blemish for Intel as it yielded 0.7% share to its archrival over a year’s span.

The next twelve months present a huge opportunity to chip makers as the ultra-portables market beckons with its promise of riches. But AMD hasn’t still fully divulged its plans for the lucrative low-voltage processor market.

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