The Apple WWDC kicked off today and the opening keynote was as expected slightly underwhelming but still depicted Apple’s broader and deeper ecosystem.

With respect to the announcements, following are some of our thoughts:

·    Typography, translucencies & lots of colors adds a fresher look and feel to the aging iOS6 UI but I believe it’s not enough to hold the iPhone users from switching to competing platforms as overall interaction, features remains weak.

·    iTunes Radio, multitasking, browser animations, Airplay and Airdrop are good and required catch-up additions but I believe many users are in many ways increasingly committed to cross-platform apps such as Pandora, Spotify, Dropbox, Gmail, Chrome which gives them a foot outside the door of iOS Ecosystem. While the current iOS users will welcome these additions, these features are not enough for competing platform users to switch to iOS.

·    In terms of maps, Apple is starting to get deeper location/mapping integration across devices and native iOS apps such as calendar, browser, enabling a tighter coupling and syncing across devices leveraging iCloud.

·    Apart from Airdrop, per app VPN, iCloud Keychain in OSX, we didn't seen many features or services announced which would boost the iCloud in enterprise.

·    Updates to OSX and notebooks were good in addition to the sneak peak of Mac Pro was truly impressive and depicts Apple still has enough design arsenal up their sleeves which they are not using it at this moment. Apple continues to bank on its strategy to leverage its strong brand equity, ecosystem advantage to think that these incremental updates will satisfy the current and prospective iOS users without giving away the farm and still will be able to maintain healthy bottom line.

Overall, Apple iOS7 has nothing revolutionary to help it beat Android or regain the "cool quotient".  However, the iOS ecosystem is still very strong and tightly controlled as it now boasts 575 million registered iTunes accounts, 300 million iCloud accounts, 240 million Game Center users, more than 90% of devices on iOS 6 (no fragmentation like Android) and 407 retail stores across 14 countries with approximately 350 million in annual footfall. Huge but still not an Android killer in long term!

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, global smartphone revenues will grow +37% over the next 5 years. Increasing smartphone volumes will be partly offset by decreasing price points, as vendors and operators penetrate deeper into the price-sensitive prepaid market. Falling component prices will enable sales expansion in lower price-tiers, particularly for emerging markets like Asia and Latin America. Meanwhile, Apple and others will continue to target the subsidy-led premium category. Our detailed report forecasts global smartphone sales volume, revenues and wholesale ASPs by six major regions and five price-tiers from 2003 to 2017. Extensive analysis of the premium, high, mid, entry and ultra-low price-bands is included. The published report can be downloaded by clients here.

According to our Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, global mobile phone industry revenues grew +11% annually in Q1 2013. Profits increased annually due to a greater proportion of 3G and 4G models in the mix. Samsung and Apple dominate the industry and they are tightening their grip on value share, squeezing out almost all other rivals. Our new report provides quarterly global mobile phone ASPs, revenues and profit metrics for multiple major mobile phone OEMs from 2007 through 1Q 2013. Revenue share and profit share are also supplied. The published report can be downloaded by clients here.

Tizen OS is being heavily supported by Samsung and others as an alternative smartphone platform to Android. Is Tizen a credible Android challenger? Or will it be a "Bada 2.0" flop? Extensive analysis and Tizen smartphone forecasts for 88 countries can be downloaded by clients in this published report, from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service.

Ubuntu OS is being hyped as an emerging smartphone platform that could be a long-term alternative to Android. What opportunities and threats does the Ubuntu OS face? Will it be low-cost enough and have a decent services ecosystem? Extensive analysis and forecasts for 88 countries can be downloaded by clients in this published report, from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service.

Apple iOS has reached a fork in the strategic road. Should Apple continue along its current path and do nothing? Or should Apple downscale and upscale into smaller and bigger screens? Extensive analysis and forecasts of Apple iOS sales for 88 countries can be downloaded by clients in this published report, from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service.

According to the latest research from our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, global Android smartphone profits reached US$5 billion in total during the first quarter of 2013. Samsung dominated and captured an impressive 95 percent share of all Android smartphone profits.

We estimate the global Android smartphone industry generated total operating profits of US$5.3 billion during Q1 2013. The Android platform accounted for 43 percent share of the entire smartphone industry’s operating profits, which reached US$12.5 billion worldwide in the first quarter of this year.

We estimate Samsung’s Android smartphone shipments generated US$5.1 billion of operating profit worldwide in Q1 2013. Samsung captured a huge 95 percent share of all Android smartphone industry profits. An efficient supply chain, sleek products and crisp marketing have been among the main drivers of Samsung’s impressive profitability. LG followed in second place and took 3 percent global profit share. LG delivered a small profit during the quarter, but it currently lacks the volume scale needed to match Samsung’s outsized profits.

Samsung is, for now, the undisputed king of the global Android smartphone industry. We believe Samsung generates more revenue and profit from the Android platform than Google does. Samsung has strong market power and it may use this position to influence the future direction of the Android ecosystem. For example, Samsung could request first or exclusive updates of new software from Android before rival hardware vendors.

Exhibit 1: Global Android Smartphone Profit Share in Q1 2013 [1]

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, shipments of smartphones through operator-controled channels, like China Telecom, will rise sharply in 2013. The landscape for smartphone distribution is changing rapidly in China, the world's largest smartphone market by volume. Clients can view more analysis and forecasts in this published report.

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, smartphone sales volumes will surge +56% in Africa Middle East this year. The rate of growth in Africa is almost two times higher than the global average. Growth will be driven by first-time buyers and 2G handset upgraders in major countries such as Nigeria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. More details can be viewed by clients in this published report, which forecasts worldwide smartphone sales for 88 countries globally, including Brazil, Spain, Russia and others.

According to our Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service, smartphone sales volumes will surge +69% in India this year. The rate of growth in India is two times higher than the global average. Growth will be driven by a wave of low-cost Android and Microsoft models for prepaid users from companies like Samsung, Micromax and Nokia. More details can be viewed by clients in this published report, which forecasts worldwide smartphone sales for 88 countries globally, including India, China, US and others.