Apple’s iPhone 5 not enough, transition critical: Ovum

While the iPhone 5 is Apple’s best device to date, it will not knock Google off the top spot

Apple will have to do “much more” than a hardware revamp of the iPhone to lead in the smartphone market, according to Ovum’s ‘Smart-Vendor Scorecard’ for the first half of 2012.

Ovum’s scorecard is a 360-degree assessment of the major technology vendors’ capabilities and their influence over consumers and developers. It replaces what Ovum sees as outdated measures of success, such as shipments and revenues, for parameters such as device portfolios, software platform assets, developer enablers, application, and the company’s influence over developers and end users.

According to the chart, Google is in the lead with a score of 7.6, with Apple coming in second at 7.1. Surprisingly, Research in Motion (RIM) is listed as number three with a score of 5.6, in front Samsung (fourth, 5.1) and Facebook (fifth, 4.9).

While Ovum expects the iPhone 5 to be Apple’s most successful smartphone to date, it said that “without a redesign of the iOS user experience and underlying software platform in the next two years, Apple will find itself in a position similar to Nokia and RIM, which found themselves with outdated smartphone platforms that needed replacing.”

According to Ovum device and platforms practice leader, Adam Leach, “Without continued innovation which we are accustomed to with Apple, the company risks losing consumer appeal.”

“The iPhone re-defined the smartphone category in 2007 but it can’t rely on past success to guarantee its future or rely on litigation to keep its competitors at bay,” Leach said.

In making its case, Ovum poses one key question for consideration: “will Tim Cook be brave enough to call time on the iPhone cash-cow in time for a successful transition?”

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