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Canadian wireless companies are looking to salvage some of their success with the departure of their CEOs. According to a prominent analyst in the industry, these new wireless companies are fighting for survival in the midst of three major players.

Mobilicity, a major wireless name, greeted their chief operating officer, Stewart Lyons to replace CEO Dave Dobbin and the chairman John Bitove to take the Executive Chairman role for a more hands-on role for the company’s regular activities. A similar change took place, barely six months back with Globalive Wireless Management Corp’s Wind Mobile greeting the company chairman Anthony Lacavera to replace the position left by telecom veteran Ken Campbell.

Analyst Dvai Ghose, seemed to suggest a lukewarm outlook in his published research note, towards this shuffling in management in the two companies as an inspiration for the Canadian government to increase competition within the sector. Telecom majors like Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., and Telus Corp. continue to have a stronghold in the industry with almost 95% market share of wireless subscribers.

According to the analyst Mr. Ghose, believes that wireless subscribers had no choice but to give the full price for the devices despite the subsidies in Canada. Business plans of the companies ensured that these subscribers stayed with the company with a two-three year contract that would be expensive to break.

Mr. Ghose also re-iterates that the ‘new entrant model’ which is independent is rapidly failing. He believes that customers want to buy unsubsidized devices despite paying more for no contracts and the cheap and affordable unlimited plans for voice and data.

Canadians have always benefited from plans by new entrants like Mobilicity, Wind and Public Mobile, as they instigated competition amongst existent players with cheaper and affordable prices. Ontario and Quebec residents have benefited from these plans. According to Brahm Eiley from Convergence Consulting Group Ltd., new entrants have outdone players like Bell, Rogers and Telus by reducing prices by 60 %.

Globalive’s Mr. Lacavera stated in an email to The Globe, that there would be greater competition from 2012 like in 2008, when licenses for wireless operation would be auctioned by the government. This would enable Globalive to increase competition with Bell. He also stated that, Globalive intended to position itself as a new national carrier in Canada. Government policies currently permit the company in the upcoming auction, the acquisition of more spectrum in rural and urban cities, giving all Canadians, cost-effective and affordable wireless services.

Mr. Ghose gives a futuristic turn to the events, and believes that incumbents will benefit from the regulations in the industry. Wireless licenses given to a company will be limited suggesting a ‘cap’ to the amount of spectrum a company can acquire and new incumbents will receive a spectrum set-aside. He suggested that foreign wireless giants and companies like Wind could have benefited with the loosening of the ownership restrictions by foreign players that remain strict under the administration of the majority Conservative government.

Mr. Ghose still believes that independent new entrants will face severe problems along with companies like Industry Canada intending to foster competition. Although, Mr. Bitove of Mobilicity takes an optimistic view on the situation and believes that Mobilicity is comfortable with its performance and ready for changes.

In a recent survey conducted by GFK among mobile phone users, Apple users were found to be highly loyal to the brand.

The survey interrogated around 4500 respondents in Britain, France, Germany, the US, etc and had the following findings

• 84% of the iphone users would remain brand loyalists saying even if they have to replace their phone, they would go for iphone
• 60% users who use smartphone running Google android responded they too would stick to the phones with same software
• 48% respondents say they will continue to remain faithful to their blackberry from RIM cellphones

According to another survey from research firm IDC, Smartphone sales have seen up down trend, thanks to the launch of 1st iphone in the year 2007 by Apple. Though the sales have slowed down, the figure rose by 49% last quarter from the last year.

“It is important for brands to gain market share amongst users as on an average 63% of consumers are brand loyal to the phone they own” said Mr Ryan Garner, analyst at GfK. Mr Garner also points out that with the rapid expansion of Android and launch of new Microsoft windows there is small space of market share to be grabbed and that is welcome sign for various players.  Apple needs to keep a close eye on these new technology developments and secure its leader place by next year.

The survey also brought out the fact that over 19% of consumers who own ipad and iphone compare changing type of Smartphone to changing bank accounts or electricity providers. They feel the later is far easier.

On the same lines 70% of consumers prefer sticking to their previous phones owing to their user friendly features and easy access to content.

The urge to pull consumers from competitors has weakened and brands now concentrate more on providing an enjoyable and refreshing experience and use this major tool to build brand loyalty.

In the meantime Apple had launched its iphone 4S in India at a price almost 4 times high than the US retail price where customers buy mandatory data service plans. Apple is confident that in spite of the price range, the phone will find buyers in India among the affluent young professionals who pick brands and luxury items to define their status.

On the other side, reports claim that Indian fans are unhappy that the smartphone will be more expensive in India as compared to its price in rest of the world.  This trend is a clear reflection of Apple brand loyal customers in India.

Apple by means of its high quality products, cutting edge design and technology and great leader/thinker Steve Jobs  have created a emotional connect with its customers and acquired brand loyalty across the globe.

Nokia fans, Microsoft Windows fans and Tablet fans can jump with joy as the head of Nokia France announced the launch of Nokia’s tablet that runs on Microsoft Windows operating system, as told in an interview with Les Echos newspaper on Wednesday.

Paul Amsellem, head of Nokia France announced with eagerness that Nokia Tablet will have Windows 8, giving a perfect fight to the Apple’s iPad. Apple and Google have managed to steal the limelight from Nokia with its booming smartphone market but, with the launch of the Lumia phones using the Microsoft Windows platform, it managed to deter traffic from Apple devices. Great marketing strategies from Nokia and Microsoft enabled the push of the Lumia phones in 2011 with a hope to create a major turnaround in market share.

Nokia looks forward and optimistic with this launch despite the slump in market growth in the third quarter and the economic slump deviating customers from investing in new phones. A major slowdown in demand created waves around the world in the third quarter from the Middle East, Africa and Latin America to Europe and the United States and can all be attributed to further expectations and the economic slump. Although, Nokia continues to hold the position of the world’s largest cellphone manufacturer and vendor, its market share across products dropped to 24% from 28% the last year unlike its rivals Samsung, Apple and LG Electronics, who managed to fill in the gaps.

Despite not announcing any specific plans related to the tablets, Nokia unveiled two new sleek models with Microsoft Windows. These phones were the Lumia 800 and the basic Lumia 710 that were set to be launched in the European markets. In a bet, to outdo the iPhone, analysts believe that this was the reason to engage Nokia phones with Microsoft software. This was planned before Christmas to enable giving Apple and Google a good fight to win back its stronghold in the market. These phones are enabled with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 which is the latest browser. This launch attracted an audience of around 3000 consisting of customers, journalists, partners, analysts and developers.

Experts believe that with these efforts of Nokia and Microsoft, there is a possible chance to give Apple and the Android a good fight for marketshare. With the look and feel of the Lumia phones considerably different from any other Nokia phones, there is hope that customers will be attracted to them more than the ones by Apple and Google.

With the Tablet and the Lumia phones launching in countries like France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain and Spain, it hopes to gather support in others like India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Russia. U.S. is still a crucial market for any cell phone supplier, and Nokia intends to have a leading position.

Nokia hopes to gain momentum with the Microsoft Windows platform and its exciting new Tablet with new features and benefits for customers.