Certainly, the top-tech candidates include Samsung, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) , and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) – each with their own share of devices and systems. Yet, as the three continue to battle it out in the market place, shareholders will need to be mindful of which direction the stocks are headed.
Is Android taking a big bite out of Apple’s profits?
Over the past several years, both Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) have come out as dominant forces in the highly popular mobile-technology market. Even though both have gone with dramatically different strategies, each of the companies has also been extremely successful in its own right. And more recently, Samsung has come on strong and further heated up the competition.
Currently, Apple generates more than $1 billion monthly on its iPhone sales alone, and the Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system has also continued to move forward with massive market share gains worldwide.
Market share for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s tablet is actually falling, though, as Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Samsung, and evenAmazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) continue to gain sales – making Apple’s once seemingly tight grasp on the tablet market seem like a distant memory.
In fact, the iPad’s market share has fallen by approximately 10% in just three months during the first quarter of 2013, from 73% to 63%. This is despite the release of the new iPad and the iPad Mini. And, while Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is still the clear leader here, a few more quarters with similar results could push it even further down the line. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), on the other hand, has had positive results with its Nexus tablet sales, currently standing at 5% market share.
Operating for profits
In the world of operating systems, Samsung has decided to take an alternate route by “cloning” Google Play on its new Galaxy 4 smartphones. With Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iTunes and Android’s Google Play, Samsung needed to fit into the equation somehow.
So, when the company released its new Galaxy S4, Samsung essentially took all of its media hubs and consolidated them all into one that now sells movies, books, music, television programs, games, and apps. In fact, the Samsung Hub already comes pre-loaded on the company’s new Galaxy devices – and is basically put directly in the user’s line of sight via a front-and-center position on the devices’ home screen panels.
Overall in 2012, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) accounted for nearly 70% of the smartphone industry’s profit, with Samsung bringing the remaining 34%. (The total percentage of profits is higher than 100 due to operating losses at Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), and Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI).)
As the competition for top dog in the device market continues, all three companies – Samsung, Apple, and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) – are allegedly planning to launch their own “smart watches” later in 2013. Now that the necessary components have become small enough – and inexpensive enough – a large percentage of smartphone customers will be able to connect to a wearable device at an affordable price.
This new product could be a real positive for any or all of the companies – and according to some analysts, sales are expected to explode over the next several years. Some reports even have estimated figures of almost half a billion device shipments per year by 2018 and $6 billion in annual sales.
The bottom line
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), now paying more than a $10.60 per share dividend to its stockholders and yielding 2.7% per year, has a share price that is estimated by analysts to skyrocket by nearly 48% over the next 52 weeks. Likewise, although Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Samsung don’t presently offer a dividend payment to their shareholders, shares of Google are expected by analysts to gain in the neighborhood of 10% this year. And, as Samsung continues to work its way into a solid market-share position, these shares are likely to see a positive upward movement, as well.
With the myriad of both current and new tangible products, as well as the operating systems and applications on which to use them, all three of these tech giants could be clear winners in terms of shareholder value in both the short term and long term.
The article 3 Strong Tech Giants Battle It Out in the Mobile-Device Arena originally appeared on Fool.com.
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