Android & Apple vs. Everyone Else
Android and Apple appear to be the two products who will be the dominant players in the smartphone platform industry. Symbian lost significant ground since last year. The other players will either be niche players or enter a JV/M&A opportunity. Only the most rabid app developers will stick around with these smaller platforms. The talented developers will gravitate to larger distributed platforms.
This is an ideal industry to utilize the Sheth Model for predicting behavior. Expect Android and Apple to leap frog each other in product development and launches. For now expect Android to enjoy the financial benefits of being #1. Symbian, too big to be a niche player and too small to be a mass market player risks slipping into the ditch.
In this competitive industry where market shares change quarterly, the platform with the best executed strategy will win. Note: The winner will not be the one with the Best Strategy, rather the best Executed. With so much at risk expect this to be an interesting study.
Strategy Inc. 