While some of us are focused on tomorrow's Mayan apocalypse, smartphone makers have more pressing problems -- like how to shake the possibility that they may have their own real apocalypse to worry about.
BGR is reporting that a wireless analyst at Barclays Capital is predicting three of Apple's competitors could be facing extinction before their respective comebacks ever get a chance.
According to analyst Jeff Kvaal, Nokia, Research in Motion and HTC could wander down the same path previously walked by Palm -- and we all know how that ended.
“Taking a look back historically, both Palm and Nokia saw significant upward moves in their stock price ahead of major device launches -- Nokia ahead of the N8 (Symbian^3) launch in 2010 and Palm with the Pre in late Spring/Summer 2009,” Kvaal explained in a research note. “In both cases, the stocks declined materially post launch.”
While smartphone giants like Samsung and Apple can ride out the ups and downs of the stock market, smaller rivals with less market share could fare much worse with their respective Windows Phone and BlackBerry products.
Although HTC isn't quite lumped into the same category as RIM and Nokia, Kvaal is predicting that the Taiwanese company's fortunes will chart a similar course. For example, HTC's new M7 smartphone will have a "brief moment in the sun" before being wiped off the map by the Samsung Galaxy S IV next year.
As Apple can tell you, stock price isn't everything -- but at this point, it may take a miracle for Nokia, RIM and HTC to overcome such obstacles, assuming Apple and Samsung don't make any major miscalculations of their own in the months ahead.
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