Even now a headline a few minutes ago saying “S&P cuts Nokia to junk” has the power to shock. The tally of 40,000 jobs cut at Nokia since 2010 is just as shocking. Clearly, working for a mobile phone manufacturer is a risky business. Yesterday Google announced that 4000 jobs were to go in its recently acquired Motorola Mobility operation. Both companies are vying to become (remain?) players in the high end smartphone market – the only place there are any profits. But just two manufacturers have this space to themselves. Although Android now outsells iOS powered smartphones 3 to 1, Samsung is the lead manufacturer. Gartner reckons Samsung sold 45.6m smartphones in Q2 compared to Apple’s 28.9m. But by profits, Apple would still be the clear winner.
As if to prove the point that we have been banging on about for many years around our “IT’s all over now” and “Diversity of Performance” themes, Gartner reported that although smartphone sales were up 43% YOY, the total mobile phone market shrank by 2.3%. So, put simply, if you weren’t Apple or Samsung, you were basically stuffed.