1. Palm
Formerly the king of PDA's (see 1997), Palm has made some very bold decisions in its career as a cell phone manufacturer. Skipping Android, Palm chose to utilize the genius mind of Matias Duarte (now a Google employee) to create its on mobile operating system, WebOS.
Despite its brilliance, the Pre and WebOS failed to put up the right numbers to keep Palm on its feet. Now owned by HP, Palm has basically recreated the Pre three separates times, still claiming that it is innovative. Palm's most recent phone, the Pre 3, might have seen success in a June 2007 release. HP, on the other hand, has started to utilize WebOS in its web-connected printers with much success.
Biggest Threat: Google. With the largest growing app store, Google is shutting WebOS out of the development world. Without third party development support, Palm lacks the excitement of iOS and Android that comes with gaming and utility applications.
Keys to Success: HP, Touchpad, Veer. One of the main reasons Palm agreed to be purchased by HP was because of its ability to reach vast markets around the world. At this point, it seems like HP only cares about Palm for its WebOS capabilities and is trashing the distribution promises. With the introduction of its Touchpad and Veer, Palm has created a system for very pure interactions between devices. The Veer, a miniature sized phone, has good appeal to those that find the large slate phones to be too bulky. The Touchpad/Veer combination could be a wild success if handled correctly by HP.
2. Sprint
With recent news of the AT&T-Mobile powerhouse, Sprint is potentially facing a new threat that could throw them out of the cell phone industry. Though the deal is not yet completed, Sprint lacks the capital and infrastructure to be a viable competitor to Verizon and AT&T-Mobile. While their pricing is certainly competitive, they have steadily lost market share since before the iPhone was even released.
The iPhone, with all its power, has made an impact on Sprint without ever being associated with it. Where T-Mobile and Verizon had an array of viable iPhone competitors at the time of its release, Sprint was left gimping behind with its Palm Pre, which came out six months later. To this day, Sprint lacks the competitive edge to kick-start sales.
Biggest threat: AT&T-Mobile. Potentially the largest cell phone provider in the country, AT&T-Mobile would have an extensive 4G network that would dominate Sprint's. With Verizon at its side, the two could easily oust Sprint from the market by beating prices, signing exclusivity contracts with hot phones, and having better service.
Key to success: FCC. If the AT&T-Mobile merger does not clear the FCC, Sprint not only has its competition back, but also a chance to purchased T-Mobile itself, which would put them right in the running with AT&T and Verizon.
3. Motorola
Similar to Palm, Motorola has seen a steady decline in market share since the year of the RAZR. That year, 2004, was the most recent year that Motorola was at the top of its tech game. Since then, it has released many plastic-y and junky feeling phones, and half-heartedly embraced Android. MotoBlur is Motorola's skin on Android, which is widely agreed to actually hurt the software instead of helping it (see HTC Sense). Right now, Motorola is embarking on a new journey through its Atrix. As the first legitimate dual-core phone on the market, the Atrix can fully run a very thin laptop which happens to be its primary accessory.
Biggest Threat: Apple. With so much riding on the new Xoom tablet, Motorola has to recognize the possibility of their tablet simply failing as so many others have. The last company to lay it all on the line with a tablet was Samsung with the Galaxy Tab. Unsurprisingly, Samsung simply couldn't compete with Apple's utter dominance of the tablet market. With the Xoom's price sitting even higher than the iPad, Motorola is going to see some big struggles finding a customer base.
Keys to Success: Xoom, Atrix. Another child of Google's Duarte, 3.0 Honeycomb stands to bring Android up the ladder to Apple. Yet because the Xoom is the only 3.0 device on the market, Android's growth is holding up a bit until the source code is released to developers and manufacturers. The Atrix is an interesting idea, but poorly executed plan. The cell phone industry in the United States is based off of the appeal of inexpensive and heavily subsidized phones. With its laptop partner coming in at $499 on top of the phone price and a two-year contract, a regular laptop seems to be a more obvious choice.
4. Sony Ericsson
Here's a company that you probably haven't heard much about other than their recent logo dispute with Clear. Once a Nokia competitor in the low-end market, SE didn't even care to compete with the smartphone guys until its Xperia X1 in late 2008. It was plagued not only by a series of delays, but also by the horribly laggy and unintuitive Windows Mobile software.
For the next three years, SE rode the late train to Smartphone School until it announced the Xperia Play last month. Dubbed the PlayStation Phone in the tech world, the Xperia Play combines a mid-tier Android phone with the brilliance of PlayStation One. Original PlayStation games will be available on the market.
Biggest Threat: Apple. With the largest app store in the world, Apple has more than 350,000 apps for distribution. PlayStation One, on the other hand, has only 2,400, not all of which will be available.
Key to Success: Xperia Play. This phone is so specific to the gaming world that it could easily be a hot device both domestically and internationally. There is some nostalgia associated with the device, seeing as it will run some of the greatest classics of the gaming world. If SE can stop skimping on device materials, it can hit a real home run with the Xperia Play.
5. Blackberry
If you've purchased a Blackberry lately, you probably have noticed that it’s basically the exact same device as someone that purchased on four years ago. With such a successful business device, Blackberry has basically dominated the enterprise device world for years. Corporations around the world are happy to hand out Blackberries to their employees because they simply make a business more productive.
Yet while Blackberry has stuck with its same form factor and software for the last 5 years, other companies developing for enterprise are slowly starting to enter the market and knock off Blackberry. In the consumer world, Blackberry has struggled greatly to innovate. While teenage girls love texting on a physical keyboard, the touchscreen slate is becoming ever more fashionable, thus making the Blackberry simply look bland.
With its first touchscreen phone, the Storm, Blackberry realized how out of date they really are. Sales were morbid, just as they were with the Torch and Storm 2. Unless Blackberry can jump back into the market with a new exciting innovation, they are on track to be pushed out of both the consumer and enterprise markets.
Biggest Threat: Apple. For the first time since 2007, companies are starting to hand out iPhones as their business phones for employees. Since this is the area where Blackberry really shines, it could take a huge hit if this trend expands. Where Apple recreates its form factor every two years, it’s been about four since Blackberry has.
Keys to Success: Engineering, Playbook. If everything goes according to plan, the new Playbook tablet would hit the market as the first enterprise tablet. There is no denying Blackberry’s success in this market, and having taken some UI hints from Android (a lot, actually) the Playbook is one of the most anticipated devices of the year. Though the iPad still does dominante the tablet market, the enterprise tablet market is basically untouched as of now. With a release date of April 16th, Blackberry could soon be the new tablet that we can’t live without.
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