New buyers are opting for Google's Android software instead of Apple's iPhones or the Canadian-made BlackBerrys in the US for the first time as the battle for smartphones hots up.
The trend towards phones using the Android software may be echoed in the Emirates if BlackBerry services are suspended by the country's authorities in October.
Android handsets are cheaper than iPhones and BlackBerrys because Google gives away the software.
A report released yesterday by researchers at Nielsen showed that Android phones were the only ones to gain market share among new users in the last quarter. Apple's iPhone and the BlackBerry, which is made by Research In Motion (RIM) of Canada, saw their slice of the market fall.
"While the iPhone has been the headline grabber over the last few years in the smartphone market, Google's Android OS has shown the most significant expansion in market share among current subscribers," Nielsen said.
Android has gained an edge among new subscribers but the BlackBerry retains the top spot among all smartphone users in the US, the world's largest market, with a 33 per cent share so far this year. This is down from 45 per cent in the same period a year earlier. Android has 27 per cent of the market while the iPhone has 23 per cent.
BlackBerry has suffered because it has so far failed to develop a winning touch-screen device enabled with applications and browsing features on a par with the Android and iPhone.
It will try to make up ground following the launch of the new BlackBerry Torch in New York last night. It is a touch-screen device with a slide-out keyboard.
But in the UAE, it is a different story. Nokia continues to outsell other devices by a big margin - about two out of every three devices sold are made by the Finnish company - while BlackBerry and the iPhone lag, according to Barti Rajan, a mobile device analyst with IDC, a technology consulting firm.
With Android, the UAE has yet to come close to the popularity the device enjoys in the rest of the world, Mr Rajan said. Fewer than 5 per cent of all smartphones sold in the country in the first quarter of this year were Androids, figures from IDC show.
"Android, to be honest, is too new in the UAE," Mr Rajan said.
"You can talk to many smartphone users in the UAE but they prefer Nokia, BlackBerry and lately, the iPhone. It's more of a hardware brand name that sells handsets here."
Among specific smartphone models, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 is the most popular device sold in the UAE with the iPhone 3GS in second place.
A range of Nokia models round up the remaining top five spots.
RIM's dominance in the UAE is expected to end if the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) suspends BlackBerry services on October 11.
RIM postponed indefinitely a launch party for its BlackBerry Pearl device, an earlier model than the Torch, which was originally scheduled for tonight at the Armani Hotel in Burj Khalifa, Dubai.
Google gives its mobile software to handset makers such as HTC, Samsung and LG for free to encourage users to click on their ads. The mobile advertising market is expected to reach US$593 million (Dh2.17 billion) in the US this year, according to eMarketer, a market research company.
Mr Rajan said he expected the TRA and RIM to come to an agreement before the October deadline.
"I'm sure one way or another it will be sorted out," he said. "RIM doesn't want to lose out in this market, which is one of the world's fastest-growing smartphone markets. It's a big losing situation for them."
Etisalat, the UAE's largest operator, announced yesterday a range of alternative mobile plans, including iPhones, Nokias and Androids, designed to ease any transition its 400,000-odd BlackBerry subscribers may have to make. Du, the country's second telecoms operator, which has about 100,000 BlackBerry subscribers, plans to reveal similar offerings today.
dgeorgecosh@thenational.ae
UAE%20v%20West%20Indies
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COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
The biog
Name: Dr Lalia Al Helaly
Education: PhD in Sociology from Cairo
Favourite authors: Elif Shafaq and Nizar Qabbani.
Favourite music: classical Arabic music such as Um Khalthoum and Abdul Wahab,
She loves the beach and advises her clients to go for meditation.
AS%20WE%20EXIST
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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SPECS
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