SMARTPHONES and touch-screens played a starring role at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last week, even as the dark clouds of the recession hovered over the industry.<\/p>\n
Smartphone sales accounted for less than a sixth of the market \u2014 171million of the total 1.21billion cellphones sold last year \u2014 but with 50percent to 80percent of those being replacement models, there is hope that users will trade up to more powerful handsets. This year, Nokia, which makes four out of every 10 handsets, is forecasting a sales slump of 10percent after years of stellar growth. Smartphone sales are expected to grow 17percent to 191 million units.<\/p>\n
For the past three years, Barcelona has been hyping touchscreens. In 2007, the year the iPhone was announced, it was almost laughable how a phone that was still five months from actually going on sale was seen as the industry leader. Barely a month after the initial announcement, Barcelona exhibitors were touting their \u201ciPhone killers\u201d.<\/p>\n
Then it launched and its remarkably simple user interface gained a fanatical following. Not many of the umpteen imitators have managed to produce quite as compelling a device, though the iPhone has sold only 17-million units in total.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no doubt that the iPhone is the best iPod ever made and that, in an age of increasing mobile Internet use, its clever multi-touch interface makes for the best mobile web tablet around. But, unfortunately, it is an average cellphone. And, as one Norwegian telecoms executive bemoaned during a keynote address \u2014 to enthusiastic applause from Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer \u2014 it represents less than 0.01percent of the global handset base. It\u2019s a moot point. Apple showed the cellular industry a new methodology and interface and it has leapt to imitate.<\/p>\n
None so more dramatically than Microsoft itself, which launched a new category it called the Windows Phone using an upgraded version of its clunky cellular operating system now named Windows Mobile 6.5.<\/p>\n
Ballmer, on his first trip to the Barcelona congress, unveiled it to sniggers from the journalists packed into a hotel ballroom, as feature after feature imitated what Apple has already done. Video testimonials from happy chief executives of partner firms notwithstanding, one of these fancy, top-secret handsets was lifted from an unsuspecting Australian Telstra executive\u2019s pocket by one of Barcelona\u2019s notorious pickpockets, who must get their hands on the newest handsets every year.<\/p>\n
Nokia announced two new stand out smartphones, the E75 and E55, describing the E55 as the smallest, most compact smartphone Nokia has ever produced. It uses a \u201ccompact qwerty\u201d keypad that features fewer keys than its predecessor the E71. The slimline E75 has a normal keypad with a slide-out qwerty keyboard, ideal for messaging. Both ship with Nokia\u2019s new user interface and feature Nokia Messaging.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be the president of the US to have your e-mail wherever you need it,\u201d said Nokia executive vice-president Kai Oistamo in one of many subtle digs at Canadian-based Research In Motion, which makes the BlackBerry Barack Obama was so reluctant to give up.<\/p>\n
Nokia also launched its new Ovi Store, seemingly modelled on Apple\u2019s App Store for the iPhone, in which third-party developers will be able to sell their applications and retain 70percent of the revenue.<\/p>\n
Samsung trumpeted three new touch-screen handsets, including the Omnia HD (model i8910), UltraTouch (S8300) and Beat DJ (M7600).<\/p>\n
The first two models feature high definition resolution (the 720p HD ready standard) and a new form of screen called an active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AM OLED). The latter is bright and could ruin old screens for you forever. Oled (pronounced O-lead) is an up-and coming technology that is expected, ultimately, to replace LCD and the newer backlit-LED in flat-panel TVs. It is remarkable indeed.<\/p>\n
Sony Ericsson presented a new Walkman phone, the W995, while showing off a new touch-screen handset, still code-named Idou, which has a 12.1 megapixel camera and slick touch-screen interface.<\/p>\n
The much anticipated appearance of handsets running Google\u2019s Android operating system failed to materialise, prompting speculation that Microsoft had leaned on phone makers not to produce them over its Windows Phones. Expect to hear more about this.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Apple was the most talked about manufacturer \u2014 despite making only one handset and not having a stand at the show. Fiction couldn\u2019t be stranger.<\/p>\n