Robert Scoble wrote an interesting post, asking: ‘Is the mobile tech press wrong in positioning Apple vs. Google?’ He poses that, although, Apple and Google are competitors it’s currently actually about the divide between Web-and-app-friendly devices and non-web-and-app-friendly devices. His thesis is that companies that make web-and-app friendly devices ‘will steal market share from those that do not and a confused strategy, like Nokia has, is going to look mixed because consumers will go with a company like Apple or Google who has said “we’re all in.”’

I think Scoble could be right that there is a divide. On one side there are the innovative Google (Nexus One + Droid) smartphones and Apple iPhone, providing very user friendly access to-, and development for web browsing and applications, and on the other side the other smart phones out there, notably Nokia, Windows Mobile OS based and RIM (Research-In-Motion) BlackBerry phones, that perform less in this respect.

However, looking at numbers calculated by AppleInsider.com on smart phone market shares (see chart below), I don’t think it will be a matter of Apple and Google stealing market share from other parties, but of low-growth or loss of market share in a growing market: in other words, other parties will lose some of their relevance. With this conclusion, the mobile tech press isn’t wrong in positioning Apple vs. Google, but some might indeed forget the shift in relevance from Nokia, Microsoft, and to lesser extent RIM BlackBerry, to Apple and Google.

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