Another Casualty in Smartphone Bloodbath! Vodafone pulls plug on 360 smartphones

I did suggest this would be a bloody year for smartphones but honestly I didn't expect this many casualties. Its only July and we've seen 4 deaths already. Palm (but re-birth via HP), Google Nexus One, Microsoft Kin and now Vodafone.

Vodafone had earlier launched some cheap featurephones for emerging world markets like India. Then they announced Android based smartphones for their Vodafone 360 service environment. Now this week we heard that there won't be any Android smartphones on the Vodafone brand. Thats the 4th major Smartphone player, and the third of Fortune Global 500 rivals to quit the smartphones race.

Also this highlights how incredibly rare that success by Apple was with the launch of the iPhone and how exceptional - truly excellent - their entry was into the smartphones space. Notice that after 'learning Apple lessons' giants like Google, Microsoft and Vodafone - have not been able to crack their way into this market.

Its very very bloody in the smartphone wars. LG made losses with its phones business. Motorola reported a surprise profit in its handset division, but that was a one-time gain out of a lawsuit settlement with RIM. Without that money, Moto would have lost money again in its phones business. The competition is so tight that competitors are dropping like flies. And managements at very big global corporations do make investment decisions and product commitment decisions based on some very serious calculations. Google, Microsoft and now Vodafone have decided that the phones race is too costly to join (or to remain in). I think this suggests the times are so bad, that we will still see more casualties this year. Whose next to quit? Yahoo?

Comments

[CrankCases]

"Now this week we heard that there won't be any Android smartphones on the Vodafone brand." - That's like shooting yourself in a foot a bit, no? Android-based handsets are on the rise in the UK, T-Mobile seems to be selling them fairly well. Vodafone, historically being a very business-oriented brand, will probably keep rolling on Blackberries and Nokias (E72).

Which actually might not be a bad thing - it's probably difficult and costly to keep up with Android updates and its platform segmentation (different manufacturers have different drivers, version segmentation, etc.) whereas Blackberries are more manageable and getting popular with the teens (establish Vodafone brand in that market, perhaps?).

[Alexander Gödde]

- Neither was the Kin a smartphone (no possibility to install applications), nor has Microsoft quit the smartphone space (WinMO 6.x is still being sold, Phone 7 coming).
- Whether Google discontinuing the Nexus One is all that big news is debatable. It was basically a Google-branded version of the HTC Desire, and thus more of a test baloon than any big investment. Sure, the sales may have been disappointing, but I don't think there was any serious bloodshed on the part of Google.

[ppk]

The Vodafone H1/M1 was not Android-based, but LiMo-based (created by Samsung). It was also by far the worst phone I've ever had the misfortune to handle. It's not easy to make a good smartphone, and Samsung/Vodafone showed exactly how not to go about it.

[Enyibinakata]

Tomi, Google designed the Nexus One to be a catalyst for Android OS. Guess what?, judging by the growth Android has notched up since Nexus one release, they succeeded, BIG TIME!!. Eric Schimdt admitted this exactly, Nexus 1 did not die, Google killed it; no need to be sensational about your bloodbath theory.

Google is very much in the smartphone market courtesy of Android and its prospects shine brighter than all the rest. I will not rush to condemn Microsoft until Win Phone 7 is released, Kin seemed to be a failed experiment and Microsoft signalled its intent early on by getting rid of the architects of Kin.

Apple built its success on the back of the iPod hegmony and superb marketing, plus lots of patents stolen from Nokia and to be fair the novelty of capacitive touch screens and other eye catching gimmicks. Just the other day you were pointing out how Apple won by way of 'perception' (iPhone one was far behind N95 etc), today, you are effusive in praise of them. Please try and keep a balanced tone and try not to be so spontaenous. Thanks

[Slávek Černý]

There is quite fresh Vodafone branded Android phone in Czech Rep. Vodafone 845 ( http://eshop.vodafone.cz/hs.htm?detail=77&nso=&lang=cs&hsName=Vodafone%20845&brand=10&promo=EHPC-77 ).

In fact it is Huawei Joy.

[christexaport]

@ Enyibinakata,
I think Android's rise has more to do with its free cost to manufacturers and the US pricing subsidy, which democratizes high end devices by removing any semblance of actual cost. US consumers see $199, which is relatively affordable in the US, for devices that actually cost anywhere from $320-699.

The Nexus One was a good device, but without the carriers, you get nowhere in the US. Ask Nokia. Their sales of unlocked US devices is admirable after seeing how Google did with its device having ads all over the most popular sites online.

[nutiblogi]

360=LiMo, linux mobile, samsung and vodafone are both limo members: http://limofoundation.com/component/option,com_limomembers/Itemid,134/ and both also android members: http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/oha_members.html

i say, that limo must die, motorola understand it 2009.
http://limofoundation.com/en/Press-Releases/ no matter, that korean government tries to keep it up and unite LG and samsung. samsung made own bada, LG making first steps - winmobile, winphone, android

[Mark]

@Leebase

I'm not sure what you're point is other than unnecessary carping. The iPhone absolutely was something new... three years ago. I'm also not sure where you get the 'making money isn't important' part from as I don't think Tomi has said that, merely that this blog is concerned with the numbers of people buying phones not how much the individual units cost.

However, since Nokia make about 3-4 billion dollars profit a year from their handset division can you explain why that isn't much if any money? I'm curious to know what you consider to be an acceptable figure. I'd also like you to explain the comment about Android not making money in the context of HTC's results.

Apple will continue to make loads of money and sell a lot of handsets. I think Tomi's point all along was, in the words of Jack Nicholson "is this as good as it gets?".

[Harald Felgner]

We are mixing things up in this discussion:

- Vodafone seems to be discontinuing the development of the LiMo-based Samsung devices, http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?C=0&ID=457354

- focusing on the 360 service suite in the cloud instead, which means opening up to more platforms and devices,

- Android included.

Tomi, do you have any information on Vodafone reducing its Android efforts?

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[Womens Thong]

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[sports hats]

The Nexus One was a good device, but without the carriers

[دردشة عراقية]

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