Apple Thoughts: Apple's Impact on the Mobile Phone Industry

"The mobile phone market is intertwined with the telecommunications industry which is vast and there are numerous competitors which are much more dynamic and better capitalized than the moribund PC or music player vendors. It's also a regulated and fragmented global market with 1.2 billion units and 5 billion consumers-far greater than any of the markets Apple played in for its first 30 years."

An interesting analysis on several data points of the industry since Q2 2007, but most impressive is the fact that RIM and Apple combined, moved from 7% in 2007 to roughly 65% in 2010 of the profits available to all the smartphone manufacturers. Talk about a transfer of wealth, the total of which the author figures to be between $4 and $6 billion, depending on the time period. It's also interesting that this was done in such a short time and without much of a fight, it appears they just rolled over. Or perhaps, more to the point, they were taken by surprise with the success of the iPhone. What are your thoughts?