It seems a bit odd (okay, surreal) that a 33% increase in the number of smartphone handsets shipped in Q3 is considered a ‘slow-down.’ Granted, the market is not as hot as it was / has been during the past few years; however, as the market itself matures this should come as no surprise. Moreover, as consumers have a greater-range of handset choices it is also becoming increasingly clear that the duality (and, on one side of this dynamic Android OS fragmentation) is almost akin to the PC Revolution (i.e., Apple vs. IBM-clones) although in this instance Apple is clearly playing the role of the ‘establishment’ (as much as Jobs and company would like to argue otherwise). And, if this analogy holds true it’s also an inevitability that the market itself is hitting a saturated point of critical mass whereas the spectacular growth figures of the past few years will increasingly diminish…
(Source) The Inquirer: http://goo.gl/s9sfh