The war of the smartphones has been accelerating this week with the unveiling of Google’s Nexus One and Microsoft's new handheld gadget. But can anyone overtake iPhone and Blackberry, the current sector leaders? Charles Wolf, senior analyst at Needham & Company, shared his insight.
“What we’ve seen in the smartphone industry is a complete flip of the PC industry,” Wolf told CNBC.
“Apple and RIM have integrated software [and] hardware models, and those are the two types of companies that are absolutely winning in this space—as opposed to Microsoft's Windows Mobile and even Android from Google , [which] has some limitations to it.”
Wolf said Google has the potential to gain some market share while, but he remains skeptical about Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system.
“In that vein, Google’s Android looks sort of the like the last hope of the platform. And my opinion is, it’s probably less than it seems,” he said. “I really believe the winner right now clearly is the iPhone.”
The smartphone market is comprised of 80 percent consumer and 20 percent enterprise spending, said Wolf.
“The enterprise market where the Blackberry reigns is really shrinking relative to the consumer market,” he said.
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Disclosures:
Wolf personally owns shares of Apple.
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