IMS industry analyst comments on the Nokia-Intel collaboration

Now that the dust has settled with the announcement of the Nokia/Intel tie-up, here comes some industry analysis from IMS Research – in case you don’t know who they are:

IMS Research is a supplier of market research and consultancy services on a wide range of global electronics markets. The company is supported by headquarters in Wellingborough, UK and offices in Austin, Texas and Shanghai, China. IMS Research regularly publishes detailed research on consumer electronics, mobile technologies and handsets, and semiconductor markets.    www.imsresearch.com

So on to the commentary – highlights are er… highlighted:

The recent announcement of a collaborative partnership between Intel and Nokia further illustrates the trend of convergence between the mobile, PC and CE industries. The alliance could provide both Intel and Nokia with important entry points to new markets, namely smartphones and netbooks/smartbooks, respectively, although the lines between the two segments are becoming increasingly blurry.

For Intel, the move is viewed as a way to further expand its business into smaller form factor devices, such as Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and smartphones, which are typically powered by ARM-based solutions. Tom Hackenberg, analyst in IMS Research’s Semiconductor group, comments, “Intel has been promoting the MID platform ever since they began developing the Atom microprocessor. The challenge for Intel has been providing mobile connectivity and power/battery performance that allows for MIDs to compete with current smartphone form factors with regards to talk time. This move should provide them with a foothold in mobile connectivity, and we can reasonably assume that they have the expertise to further refine the Atom’s power performance in new generations.”

A leader in the mobile handset business, Nokia has not aggressively pursued the netbook market, although it is openly considering this as a possibility. Bill Morelli, Research Director of IMS Research’s Mobile Technologies group, states, “Some of Nokia’s motivation behind the partnership with Intel is likely a concern about losing share in the handset markets, more than being aggressive about moving into the other ultra-mobile device segments.” Morelli adds, “Historically Nokia has been very cautious in developing new products. They have a definite approach to new product development with a focus on quality first. The partnership with Intel could provide Nokia with a meaningful differentiator for a netbook/smartbook device.”

Based on a recent study Emerging Ultra-mobile Device Markets, IMS Research estimates that over 50 million ultra-mobile devices (UMDs) will ship in 2009, in addition to over 150 million 3G smartphones and nearly 120 million notebooks. In five years, UMD shipments are forecast to reach 212 million. Anna Hunt, report author and principal analyst at IMS Research, comments, “Companies are rapidly creating new categories for the next-generation of devices, be it media phone, smartbook, Internet tablet, or MID, yet the underlying concept is the same: to provide consumers with new mobility platforms. Ultimately, as Apple taught us, the user interface will have a strong impact on who is the most successful.”

So there you have it – that’s what some of the industry people think. What exactly is going to come from the Nokia/Intel collabo, only time will tell.