Apple's popular Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) takes place this week in California, US, starting Monday 10th June, 2013.

What do we expect to see?

1. An iOS7 upgrade: there will be visual enhancements, with improved access to APIs for developers;
2. iCloud or iRadio progress: tighter integration with iOS and iTunes;
3. Maps: Apple lost heartshare because of its Maps mis-launch last year. It must improve this year

What would we like to see?

1. More certainty around hardware roadmaps for the iPhone and iPad families. We believe Apple has been flip-flopping on new product developments behind the scenes in recent months;
2. More focus on China, since it is now by far the world's largest cellphone market.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, mobile phone wholesale (trade) revenues in India will grow by 17% in 2014. This is faster than the global average. Solid mobile phone volumes and rising wholesale prices due to a 3G boom will drive revenues higher.  More analysis and forecasts can be viewed by clients here. 

Our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service's updated report -- BRIC Country Handset Revenues, ASPs & Price-Tier Forecasts: 2009 to 2017 -- forecasts four countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) to generate a combined 28% of global mobile phone industry revenues in 2013.

Global handset wholesale revenues will grow 16% in 2013, followed by total growth of 5% in the following five years through 2017. BRIC countries together will post an above-average growth rate during the forecasted timeframe. However, Brazil and China will start to see negative revenue growth by 2016 and 2017, driven by steadily declining wholesale average selling prices (ASP), while India will continue to see positive revenue growth rates during this timeframe. Russia will remain almost flat for the next five years through 2017.

Among the four countries, China will post the highest handset revenue growth rate in 2013, driven by surging handset prices, while India will surpass China to lead the growth wave from 2014 thanks to the steady expansion of the country's handset volumes.

The highest regional ASPs among the four countries will be found in China in 2013. The continued shift towards 3G smartphones will help China's handset ASPs to reach this peak in 2013, but the increased entry- and mid-tier smartphone mix, as well as softer feature phone prices, will drive it down from 2014 onwards. More analysis and forecasts can be downloaded by clients in this published report.

This week, unconfirmed rumors resurfaced that Lenovo of China may be interested in merging its smartphone division with NEC Casio of Japan in H2 2013. Lenovo has been running a separate venture with NEC in the PC business since 2011.

According to our Country Share Tracker (CST) service, NEC Casio performed well in the Japanese mobile phone market during the early-2000s, but it has drifted into the mid-table rankings this year in both local handset and smartphone market share due to mixed products, slow rollouts and suboptimal distribution.

By contrast, Lenovo is putting in the utmost efforts trying to increase its market presence in smartphones, based partly on its market penetration of the PC industry, which resulted in Lenovo taking 6th place in our global smartphone rankings during Q1 2013. Lenovo is doing particularly well in its home smartphone market of China, where it is an established top-5 player.

The creation of a joint venture with NEC Casio could give Lenovo a greater foothold in the Japanese smartphone market. Lenovo will be targeting Japan because it will be the world's 4th biggest country by volume in 2014. If Lenovo could gain better traction in Japan through a JV with NEC Casio, it would pose a competitive threat to Fujitsu, Sharp, Sony, Kyocera, Apple, Samsung and others. Combining Lenovo's hunger for growth with NEC's high-end product experience could prove a solid combination.

However, it remains to be seen whether Japanese consumers or operators would warm to such an ambitious Chinese entrant -- especially given ongoing political tensions between the two countries. For these reasons, we believe a Lenovo-NEC-Casio merger, full or partial, if it happened, would be achievable, but any JV would probably struggle to move beyond niche status at home in Japan.

The new Jolla smartphone and Sailfish OS have been pre-released and created some global media coverage this week. Will Jolla and Sailfish take off or flop?

Our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service published a report on this a few months back and clients can read our analysis here.

Three recent television interviews, each about 5 minutes in length, from Neil Mawston and Neil Shah in our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) research service:

1. Wall Street Journal (WSJ) TV: What is Google and Android's Outlook?:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324715704578483542256150334.html


2. China Central Television (CCTV): Nokia, Blackberry and Smartphone Trends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CGzEWkRJ4Q


3. Huawei TV Interview: What is the Outlook for the Chinese Giant in Mobile Devices?:
https://ubm.box.com/s/cp57ebmtjmoa8fv3kkre

Global handset shipments dipped 1% annually during the first quarter of 2013. Developed and emerging markets slowed, but Asia remained the world's fastest-growing region.

Samsung, Lenovo and Coolpad registered the highest global growth rates, starting the year on relatively positive notes. While Samsung maintained the pole position as the largest handset supplier worldwide, Chinese brand Coolpad (also known as Yulong Coolpad) entered the top 10 rankings for the first time surpassing HTC, BlackBerry and Motorola due to rising demand for its 3G/4G handsets in China, parts of Asia and expansion in US market.

Samsung with robust demand for its Galaxy handsets led in most of the regions globally followed by Nokia meanwhile Blackberry became a top three player in Africa with reasonable demand for its handsets in Nigeria and Middle East. Meanwhile LG also registered impressive performance and growth moving up in the rankings globally and in multiple regions.

Latest report from our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service details quarterly handset shipments and marketshare for the world's top 30 vendors in North America, Central & Latin America, Western Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, Africa Middle East and Asia Pacific. Historical data by quarter from Q1 2004 to Q1 2013 are also included.

VENDOR SHARE: Global Handset Market by Region: Q1 2013

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, NFC phones are reaching a tipping point this year and global volumes will more than double in 2013. Most new LTE handsets will launch with NFC in the future, led by key players such as Samsung, Blackberry, Android, Microsoft and Nokia. More analysis can be downloaded by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, Motorola's worldwide mobile phone shipments fell -52% annually in Q1 2013. Since Google acquired Motorola in Q3 2011, this grandfather of the cellphone industry has failed to post either a quarterly profit or a single quarterly increase in shipments, something only a fundamental overhaul of its handset development strategy can reverse. We recommend Motorola turn to the Nexus sub-brand to inject some magic back into its portfolio. More analysis can be downloaded by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, LG's worldwide mobile phone shipments, revenues, profits and pricing all rose faster than the industry averages during the first quarter of 2013. Due to an improved 4G handset portfolio, LG is on the comeback trail. Operators and consumers are re-warming to LG. However, there are challenges. The US and China -- the world’s two most important markets -- remain major problem-children for the South Korean vendor. More analysis can be downloaded by clients here.