Android has ousted its rivals by dominating over half of the local smartphone operating system (OS) market by the middle of this year as more devices flood the market with Android-powered handsets, a recent study shows.
The study by the International Data Company (IDC) shows that Android now claimed a 52 percent market share of the Indonesian operating system market in the second quarter of this year.
Android has now overtaken Research In Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry at the number one spot, thanks to the increasing number of Android-touting devices, including Samsung, HTC and Sony, in the smartphone market.
“The increase in shipments of Android-based phones in Indonesia is driven not just by its affordability, but also due to its broad range of applications and the overall growing popularity of touchscreens,” Darwin Lie, an analyst from IDC, said.
The study also forecasts that strengthening consumer preference for touchscreen devices would boost smartphone shipments to beyond 7 million units this year. The study also found that vendors were offering smartphones costing as little as US$50.
Darwin added that the delayed launch of the BlackBerry 10, the latest operating system by RIM, contributed to the receding market share of BlackBerry.
RIM was supposed to launch the BlackBerry 10 this year, but pushed back the release date to the first quarter of next year.
“The delay in the launch of the BlackBerry 10, has also contributed to the change in OS preference,” Darwin said.
The IDC predicts that BlackBerry shipments in Indonesia would reach 8 million units in 2015, while Android would reach 10 million units. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone, whose prices start at Rp 4.5 million ($269) for the later version, would see 500,000 units shipped in. Windows-based phones including Nokia Lumia, reached an estimated 5 million units shipped in 2015.
Analysts at Frost & Sullivan also point out that the dominance of Samsung and its Android-based smartphones present a challenge for iPhone, which has witnessed their global market share eroded by the Korean device manufacturer.
“The proliferation of Android applications and the emergence of the Google Play application storefront threatens to slow down the growth of Apple,” Abishek Chauhan, Frost & Sullivan consultant for South Asia and Middle East, said.
However, Frost & Sullivan estimates that Samsung may see profits reduced in the future as platform vendors collaborate with device manufactures to gain control over the device ecosystem, encompassing applications and services, which would ultimately be the draw for customers.
Apple owns the iPhone hardware and OS, while Microsoft and Google have signed deals with Nokia and Motorola, respectively. On the other hand, Samsung owns the device, but not the Android, an open OS.
“In the long term, this may reduce profits for Samsung as devices become commodities and the value of a pure-play hardware strategy yields lower revenue,” Pranabesh Nath, a Frost & Sullivan researcher, said.
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