UK-based analyst firm Canalys, released its findings on smartphone market share based on Q2 2009 unit shipments : "Nokia maintains global lead, although its performance varies by region.Touchscreens become the preferred interface, representing 40% of all shipments. Apple’s success continues, as the iPhone takes 23% of the North American market. But RIM continues to gain share, succeeding with its push into the consumer market. Finally, Operating system choices are proliferating, primarily at Microsoft’s expense" are the main findings.
“Smart phones continue to shine as one of the brightest spots of the technology industry, with shipments growing despite the global recession. Innovation in interfaces, design, applications and promotion continue to excite consumers, which, in contrast to the PC industry, is helping to keep average selling prices stable. The rise in data traffic seen by mobile network operators is finally generating a return on their investment in broadband capacity and will drive further infrastructure expenditure” comments Canalys in its second quarter report. Below are the charts for Global smart phone market and the evolution of market shares by OS.
Another smart phone market characteristic according to Canalys is how behaviour differs around the world. “The English-speaking media tends to be dominated by the industry trends seen in the US. However, both EMEA and APAC are larger markets for smart phones and we see different companies leading there. Nokia is very strong in the key markets of India and China, while companies such as Samsung and Fujitsu have substantial leadership in their homelands of Korea and Japan respectively. As success in the mobile industry becomes shaped more by software and the Internet we expect these trends to continue – language, culture and network operators are mainly ‘local’. Consider, for example, the challenges Google is facing in China or how eBay failed to take off in Japan ” comments Rachel Lashford, MD of Canalys APAC (to read the complete survey, see attached PDF).
