Gartner Says Worldwide PC, Tablet and Mobile Phone Shipments to Grow 4.5 Percent in 2013 as Lower-Priced Devices Drive Growth

PC Shipments to Decline 8.4 Percent in 2013, While Tablet Shipments Increase 53.4 Percent

Kuala Lumpur, 23 October 2013 — Worldwide combined shipments of devices (PCs, tablets and mobile phones) are projected to reach 2.32 billion units in 2013, a 4.5 percent increase from 2012, according to Gartner, Inc. The market is being driven by a shift to lower-priced devices in nearly all device categories.

Worldwide shipments of traditional PCs (desk-based and notebook) are forecast to total 303 million units in 2013, an 11.2 percent decline from 2012, and the PC market, including ultramobiles, is forecast to decline 8.4 percent in 2013 (see Table 1). Mobile phone shipments are projected to grow 3.7 percent, with volume of more than 1.8 billion units.

Tablet shipments are expected to grow 53.4 percent this year, with shipments reaching 184 million units. Premium tablets are faced with continued price decline in the 7-inch form factor as a larger number of consumers prefer smaller form factors when it comes to content consumption. A recent consumer study that Gartner conducted in Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, the U.K., the U.S. and Japan confirmed Gartner's long-standing assumption that smaller is better when it comes to consumer tablets. The survey showed that the average screen sizes of the tablets in use across the countries ranged from 8.3 inches to 9.5 inches. Forty-seven percent of the 21,500 consumers surveyed owned a tablet that was 8 inches or less.

As the third-quarter earnings season comes to an end, it is clear that our caution for 2013 was well placed as vendors are transitioning their portfolios to the new Intel processors Bay Trail and Haswell, as well as rolling out products that are based on the Windows 8.1 release.

"While consumers will be bombarded with ads for the new ultramobile devices, we expect their attention to be grabbed but not necessarily their money," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. "Continuing on the trend we saw last year, we expect this holiday season to be all about smaller tablets as even the long-term holiday favorite — the smartphone — loses its appeal.

Table 1

Worldwide Device Shipments by Segment (Thousands of Units)

Device Type	2012	2013	2014
PC (Desk-Based and Notebook)	341,273	303,100	281,568
Ultramobile	9,787	18,598	39,896
Tablet	120,203	184,431	263,229
Mobile Phone	1,746,177	1,810,304	1,905,030
Total	2,217,440	2,316,433	2,489,723

Source: Gartner (October 2013)

"Although the preference is for dedicated devices, we see the opportunity for hybrid ultramobile to marry the functionality of a PC and the form factor of the tablet. Users that have to balance work and play will find that the advantage of buying and carrying one device outweighs the compromise in the full experience that single devices can deliver," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner. "Users who are not limited by their disposable income will likely have a basic tablet as a companion device to the their ultramobile on which most of their consumption activities will take place."

The mobile phone market will continue to experience steady growth, but the opportunity for high average selling price (ASP) smartphones is now ending. Growth is expected to come from mid-tier smartphones in mature markets and low-end Android smartphones in emerging markets.

Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia doesn't have a major impact on the forecast, because Gartner already assumed that Nokia would have accounted for the vast majority of Windows Phone share throughout the forecast, with only minimal volume coming from other OEMs, such as HTC or Samsung.

"Windows Phone challenges in the smartphone market remain the same, with the need to bring on board more developers and enrich the ecosystem, as well as turning the Windows Phone brand into a cool smartphone brand. While there are clear benefits to the acquisition, such as channel strength, carrier relationship and emerging-market knowledge, the brand and ecosystem do not directly benefit from it," said Ms. Milanesi.

The end of Windows XP support in 2014 isn't expected to impact device sales, as Gartner says 90 percent of large enterprises have either migrated or are migrating to Windows 7 or Windows 8.

Android will remain the leading device operating system (OS), as it is on pace to account for 38 percent of shipments in 2013 (see Table 2). The Windows OS is projected to decline 4.3 percent in 2013 as a result of the decline in traditional PC sales, but will return to growth in 2014 with device OS shipments increasing 9.7 percent.

Table 2

Worldwide Device Shipments by Operating System (Thousands of Units)

Operating System	2012	2013	2014
Android	505,509	879,910	1,115,289
Windows	346,468	331,559	363,803
iOS/MacOS	212,875	271,949	338,106
RIM	34,584	23,103	19,297
Others	1,118,004	809,912	653,228
Total	2,217,440	2,316,433	2,489,723

Source: Gartner (October 2013)

Top technology providers see wearable devices as an important market opportunity; however, Gartner expects that wearable devices will primarily remain a companion to mobile phones. Less than 1 percent of consumers will actually replace their mobile phones with a combination of a wearable device and a tablet by 2017.

"For wearables to be successful, they need to add to the user experience by complementing and enhancing what other devices already offer. They also need to be stylish yet practical, and most of all hit the right price," said Ms. Milanesi. "In the short term, we expect consumers to look at wearables as nice to have rather than a "must have," leaving smartphones to play the role of our faithful companion throughout the day."

BLACKBERRY CHARTS NEW COURSE BY OFFICIALLY ADOPTING ITS ICONIC BRAND NAME

Announces Election Results for the Company’s Board of Directors

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – BlackBerry® (Nasdaq: BBRY; TSX:BB) announced today that the Company’s shareholders have approved a special resolution to change the Company’s name from Research In Motion Limited to BlackBerry Limited at the Company’s annual and special meeting of shareholders held on July 9, 2013 (the “Meeting”). Articles of Amendment have been filed to effect the change immediately.

The Company first announced that it would adopt the name of its revolutionary BlackBerry smartphone on January 30, 2013. The move consolidates the Company’s brand into a single cohesive global presence. The Company has been trading as “BBRY” on the NASDAQ Stock Market and “BB” on the Toronto Stock Exchange since February 4, 2013.

“The name change to BlackBerry from Research In Motion comes at a pivotal moment in our company’s history,” said Thorsten Heins, President and CEO. “BlackBerry changed the world when the first products were introduced in 1999. Today, we are charting a new course in mobile computing, creating new products and services under an integrated, branded organization. Our new name delivers on our iconic brand’s reputation for keeping people moving and productive in an ever connected world.”

BlackBerry also announced that the nine nominees listed in the Company’s management information circular, dated May 21, 2013 for the Meeting, were elected as directors to serve until the next annual meeting of shareholders of the Company or until their successors are elected or appointed. The detailed results of the vote are set out below.

Nominee	Votes For	% Votes For	Votes Withheld	% Votes Withheld
Timothy Dattels	241,472,242	99.38	1,508,615	0.62
Thorsten Heins	241,441,376	99.37	1,540,481	0.63
David Kerr	239,902,407	98.73	3,079,350	1.27
Claudia Kotchka	240,091,033	98.81	2,890,024	1.19
Richard Lynch	239,216,635	98.45	3,762,225	1.55
Roger Martin	239,941,977	98.75	3,039,880	1.25
Bert Nordberg	239,188,658	98.44	3,793,199	1.56
Barbara Stymiest	197,965,264	81.47	45,016,593	18.53
Prem Watsa	235,820,585	97.05	7,161,272	2.95

BlackBerry Secures iOS and Android in the Enterprise Without Sacrificing the User Experience

Secure Work Space separates work and personal apps and data on iOS and Android devices

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – 26 June 2013 – BlackBerry® (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB) today announced the availability of a new security solution that separates work and personal apps and data on iOS® and Android™ devices. Secure Work Space for iOS and Android is a new option with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (version 10.1.1) that offers customers with a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy, a solution with the best combination of security, user experience and total cost of ownership. BlackBerry designed Secure Work Space to meet the management, security and cost needs of the CIO, and the user experience and functionality that employees demand.

Since launching in January 2013, 18,000 BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10 servers have been installed by customers around the world and Secure Work Space for iOS and Android has been trialed globally with BlackBerry customers since the launch, including Netherlands-based e-office mobile b.v. For the past 22 years e-office has been creating virtual working environments for their clients, and to ensure they are always staying current on their clients’ mobility needs, e-office took part in BlackBerry’s early adopter program for Secure Work Space.

“Secure Work Space builds on BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, and we found that BlackBerry’s secure infrastructure offered our company the best containerization solution to help mobilize our multi-platform environment, while maintaining a great user experience,” said Thierry Lammers, Director and co-founder, e-office mobile. “We’re looking forward to deploying this solution across our organization and to our customers in the coming months and bringing the separation of work and personal data to life on iOS and Android devices.”

According to Forrester Research, Inc., in 2016, 350 million employees will use smartphones and 200 million will bring their own devices to the workplace(1). Secure Work Space offers an ideal BYOD mobile security solution, providing organizations the flexibility to embrace BYOD without sacrificing security. On a personal iOS or Android device, users with Secure Work Space get integrated email (with attachment viewing), calendar and contacts for productivity, as well as secure browser access to intranets and document editing capabilities with BlackBerry’s Documents To Go™. With corporate data separated and controlled within the Secure Work Space container, these standard apps can be deployed with confidence to any user, together with other apps chosen by the company.

BlackBerry is working closely with app partners such as Box to power business collaboration in the cloud.

“Content sits at the center of every successful business and Box ensures that today’s mobile enterprise can securely access their information from any device, in any location and at any time,” said Whitney Bouck, Senior Vice President & GM, Enterprise at Box. “Box and BlackBerry are powering enterprise mobility for today’s knowledge workers.”

BlackBerry provides security at the device, server and network level. Secure Work Space leverages the same trusted behind-the-firewall connection available for BlackBerry smartphones and extends BlackBerry security capabilities for data-at-rest and data-in-transit to iOS and Android devices. The Secure Work Space container is managed through BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, making it easy and convenient to manage all devices from its single console.

“Mobility is fundamentally transforming how we live and work. As our dependency on mobile solutions grows, and as a greater variety of mobile devices enter the workplace, the need for solutions to manage and secure these devices has never been greater," said David J. Smith, EVP, Enterprise Mobile Computing at BlackBerry. "In today’s ‘bring your own device world’, Secure Work Space is a differentiated solution that brings key elements of the BlackBerry security platform and mobile device management to iOS and Android devices."  

The Secure Work Space solution also enables customers to save considerable effort, administration and expense as they no longer need to configure and manage expensive VPN infrastructures to provide mobile device access to data and apps that reside behind their corporate firewalls. With end-to-end enterprise mobility management, easy deployment, and BlackBerry’s global technical support, BlackBerry continues to offer innovative, secure and reliable solutions to enterprises and governments around the world.

Availability
The BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 server software is free to download. Annual client access licenses (CALs) for Secure Work Space are USD$99 (MSRP) per year per device. BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 is also available as a sixty (60) day free trial bundle that includes 50 EMM Corporate CALs (providing device management for BlackBerry 10, iOS, and Android devices) and 50 Secure Work Space CALs. The free trial can be downloaded here.

For more information on BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 visit www.bes10.com.  

Gartner Says Asia/Pacific Led Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales to Growth in First Quarter of 2013

Sales of Mobile Phones in All Regions Except Asia/Pacific Declined in the First Quarter of 2013
Slowdown in Feature Phone Upgrade Cycle Could Strain Mobile Phone Market in 2013

Kuala Lumpur, May 21, 2013 — Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totaled nearly 426 million units in the first quarter of 2013, a slight increase of 0.7 percent from the same period last year, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide smartphone sales totaled 210 million units in the first quarter of 2013, up 42.9 percent from the first quarter of 2012. The Asia/Pacific region was the only region to show growth in mobile phone sales this quarter, with a 6.4 percent increase year-on-year.

“More than 226 million mobile phones were sold to end users in Asia/Pacific in the first quarter of 2013, which helped the region increase its share of global mobile phones to 53.1 percent year-on-year,” said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner. “In addition, China saw its mobile phone sales increase 7.5 percent in the first quarter of 2013, and its sales represented 25.7 percent of global mobile phone sales, up nearly 2 percentage points year-on-year.

“The Chinese and local manufacturers have been exemplary at addressing the demands of buyers by offering affordable devices with optimum features such as 2.5G (EDGE) instead of 3G in a smartphone. In the smartphone market, local and Chinese manufacturers are making faster inroads as they account for 29 percent share in the first quarter of 2013, up from 13.2 percent a year ago.”

In the first quarter of 2013, sales of mobile phones in the EMEA region declined 3.6 percent. The North America and Latin America’s mobile phone market fell 9.5 and 3.8 percent, respectively, while Japan saw its mobile phone sales drop 7.3 percent.

Mobile Phone Vendor Perspective
Samsung: Samsung remained in the No. 1 position, growing 13 percent in the first quarter of 2013 (see Table 1). Its share of smartphones reached 30.8 percent, up 3.2 percentage points from the first quarter of 2012 (see Table 2). “We expect the new Galaxy S4 to be very popular despite being more of an evolution than a truly revolutionary device compared to the S3,” said Mr. Gupta.

Nokia: Its mobile phone share dropped 4.9 percentage points in the first quarter of 2013 mainly due to a steep decline in feature phone sales. Although Nokia’s Windows Phone sales have sequentially improved reaching a volume of 5.1 million units, Nokia is yet to see high growth in the smartphone segment. Nokia’s position in the smartphone market dropped to No. 10 in the first quarter of 2013, from No. 8 in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Apple: Sales to end users reached 38.3 million units in the first quarter of 2013 as Apple was able to burn some of the inventory built at the end of 2012 as iPhone 5 was rolling out in more markets, and as the company prepared for Chinese New Year. China is a key contributor to overall sales for Apple, and Gartner analysts saw evidence of this in the first quarter of 2013, when sales reached close to 7 million units in mainland China alone thanks to the lower price of the iPhone 4. “Apple is faced with the challenge of being increasingly dependent on the replacement market as its addressable market is capped. The next two quarters will also be challenging, as there are no new products are expected to be coming before the third quarter of 2013,” said Mr. Gupta.

LG electronics moved in front of ZTE in the first quarter of 2013 for the No. 4 position. ZTE had a weak performance, failing to grow its smartphone sales, selling 7.9 million smartphones in the first quarter of 2013, a 5.1 percent decline year-on-year.

Table 1

Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 1Q13 (Thousands of Units)

Company	1Q13 Units	1Q13 Market Share (%)	1Q12 Units	1Q12 Market Share (%)
Samsung	100,657.7	23.6	89,284.6	21.1
Nokia	63,215.2	14.8	83,162.5	19.7
Apple	38,331.8	9.0	33,120.5	7.8
LG Electronics	15,615.8	3.7	14,720.4	3.5
ZTE	14,606.6	3.4	17,379.7	4.1
Huawei Technologies	11,114.8	2.6	10,796.1	2.6
TCL Communication	8,515.9	2.0	7,396.6	1.7
Sony Mobile Communications	7,955.5	1.9	7,898.4	1.9
Lenovo	7,778.9	1.8	5,820.6	1.4
Yulong	7,478.8	1.8	3,146.6	0.7
Others	150,550.6	35.4	150,229.40	35.5
Total	425,821.6	100.0	422,955.4	100.0

Source: Gartner (May 2013)

In the first quarter of 2013, smartphones accounted for 49.3 percent of sales of mobile phones worldwide. This is up from 34.8 percent in the first quarter of 2012, and 44 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012. On the other hand, sales of feature phones contracted 21.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013.

“Feature phones users across the world are either finding their existing phones good enough or are waiting for smartphones prices to drop further, either way the prospect of longer replacement cycles is certainly not a good news for both vendors and carriers looking to move users forward,” said Mr. Gupta.

Table 2

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 1Q13 (Thousands of Units)

Company	1Q13 Units	1Q13 Market Share (%)	1Q12 Units	1Q12 Market Share (%)
Samsung	64,740.0	30.8	40,612.8	27.6
Apple	38,331.8	18.2	33,120.5	22.5
LG Electronics	10,080.4	4.8	4,961.4	3.4
Huawei Technologies	9,334.2	4.4	5,269.6	3.6
ZTE	7,883.3	3.8	4,518.9	3.1
Others	79,676.4	37.9	58,537.0	39.8
Total	210,046.1	100.0	147,020.2	100.0

Source: Gartner (May 2013)

In the smartphone operating system (OS) market (see Table 3), Android continued to increase its lead, with nearly 50 percent more Android smartphones in the market than a year ago. “There are two clear leaders in the OS market and Android’s dominance in the OS market is unshakable,” Mr. Anshul said. “With new OSs coming to market such as Tizen, Firefox and Jolla we expect some market share to be eroded but not enough to question Android’s volume leadership. 

Table 3

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 1Q13 (Thousands of Units)

Operating System	1Q13  Units	1Q13 Market Share (%)	1Q12  Units	1Q12 Market Share (%)
Android	156,186.0	74.4	83,684.4	56.9
iOS	38,331.8	18.2	33,120.5	22.5
Research In Motion	6,218.6	3.0	9,939.3	6.8
Microsoft	5,989.2	2.9	2,722.5	1.9
Bada	1,370.8	0.7	3,843.7	2.6
Symbian	1,349.4	0.6	12,466.9	8.5
Others	600.3	0.3	1,242.9	0.8
Total	210,046.1	100.0	147,020.2	100.0

Source: Gartner (May 2013)

Additional information is in the Gartner report "Market Share Analysis: Mobile Phones, Worldwide, 1Q13." The report is available on Gartner's website at http://www.gartner.com/document/2482415?ref=QuickSearch&sthkw=G00252860.