Michael Morgan, senior analyst of mobile devices at the market intelligence company, commented: "This has been a 'sticky wicket' for every OEM [original equipment manufacturer] that has adopted Android to date."
"Some OEMs will try to differentiate on hardware capabilities, but this realm is best left to those who have direct vertical access to key smartphone hardware," he explained.
He added that examples of this are cameras, processors and touchscreens that "competitors can't just pick up in the open market".
Other manufacturers will try to differentiate by "by offering the lowest price possible," even if they "eventually have to sacrifice margin to keep in the game", he said.
ABI Research revealed recently that the Android platform was installed in more than 30 million shipped smartphones in the first quarter of 2011.
Posted by Simon Jones
