Canalys Research announced May 3 that global smartphone shipments continued their climb in the first quarter, as volumes reached 55.2 million phones. According to Canalys, the sector bounced back from a drop caused by the economic downturn – shipments increased by 67 percent over the year-ago period, the highest growth rate since the end of 2007.
“Though the high-end, data-capable handsets fared better than the overall mobile-phone market in that period, the trend was a jolt for a hot new class of products,” wrote Stephen Lawson of IDG News Service (May 3).
Lawson quotes Canalys analyst Chris Jones, who said the sales slowdown was mostly caused by a weak global economy, but also by other factors, like product launch delays. “(Jones said) the recent upswing came in part from strong shipments in countries where mobile technology is being adopted rapidly, such as China and India,” wrote Lawson.
Nokia and Research In Motion posted record Q1 volumes. Nokia shipped just over 21.4 million smartphones (or 39% of the market share), while RIM shipped nearly 10.6 million units (19% share). Apple shipped about 8.8 million units (16% share), followed by HTC (2.8 million; 5.1% share) and Motorola (2.6 million; 4.7% share). All other manufacturers split the remaining 16 percent of the market (for a total of nearly 9 million units shipped) in the first quarter.
Nokia CEO pledges to ‘help close the gap’ on smartphones
Even though Nokia still holds the most global smartphone market share (at almost 40 percent), it has been “upstaged” by Apple and smaller Android-based handset makers, wrote FierceWireless’ Phil Goldstein (May 7). “Last year Nokia’s revenue slumped 19 percent and operating profit dropped 76 percent. In a further blow, Nokia came in at No. 43 in a brand-ranking study released recently by marketing research firm Millward Brown, falling 30 places in a year.” (See Nokia: Lower Profits, Closing Stores.)
But Goldstein says Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who has been in charge since 2006, deflected shareholder criticism of his leadership. “(He) promised to improve Nokia’s performance in smartphones against the likes of Apple and Research In Motion.”
Android bumps iPhone OS out of No. 2 spot for U.S. smartphone platforms
Android seems to have gained a stronger foothold in the smartphone market by passing the iPhone OS and moving into second place, according to NPD Research. “RIM maintained a strong 36 percent market share for the quarter, with Android coming in at 28 percent, and the iPhone OS in third at 21 percent,” wrote Engadget’s Donald Melanson (May 10).
“The growth for Android was attributed largely to strong carrier support – like Verizon’s buy-one-get-one-free offer which, incidentally, also helped Verizon maintain a 30 percent smartphone market share, which is just slightly behind AT&T at 32 percent, and ahead of T-Mobile and Sprint at 17 and 15 percent, respectively,” Melanson added.
- newsletter@iQmetrix.com
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