Apple surpasses Sony, Motorola in total handset sales - Gartner
The growth of Apple's iPhone in 2010 came at the expense of competitors who lost significant market share and experienced reduced sales, including Sony Ericsson and Motorola, according to new data from Gartner.
Gartner on Wednesday revealed that worldwide mobile device sales to end users reached 1.6 billion in 2010, driven by the growth of smartphones, which saw a 72 percent increase. Among all handsets -- both smartphones and "feature phones" -- Apple was the No. 5 device maker for the calendar year, selling 46.6 million iPhones.
Apple's share of the total mobile phone market in 2010, according to Gartner, was 2.9 percent, up from the 2.1 percent it earned in 2009 on sales of 24.9 million devices. Apple's growth and near-doubled sales helped to push it past both Sony Ericsson and Motorola, which saw year-over-year declines in sales.
Sony Ericsson came in sixth on sales of 41.8 million handsets, good for a 2.6 percent market share. That was down from the 55 million units and 4.5 percent market share the company enjoyed in calendar year 2009.
It was a similar story for Motorola, which sold 38.6 million units in 2010 and earned a 2.4 percent market share. Both of those figures were down from 58 million units and 4.8 percent share in 2009.
The market leaders also lost ground in 2010, as Nokia slid from a 36.4 percent share in 2009 to 28.9 percent in 2010. But with sales of 461.3 million units in the calendar year, the Finnish handset maker retained its spot as the top mobile device manufacturer.
In second was Samsung, which dropped from 19.5 percent in 2009 to 17.6 percent in 2010. LG Electronics also slid from 10.1 percent to 7.1 percent.
Among the top companies, only Research in Motion joined Apple with year over year growth. The BlackBerry Maker earned a 3 percent market share in 2010 on sales of 47.5 million units, up from 2.8 percent share and 34.3 million units in 2009.
"Strong smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 pushed Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) up in our 2010 worldwide ranking of mobile device manufacturers to the No. 5 and No. 4 positions, respectively, displacing Sony Ericsson and Motorola," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. "Nokia and LG saw their market share erode in 2010 as they came under increasing pressure to refine their smartphone strategies."
Gartner concluded that Apple's 87.2 percent year-over-year growth in 2009 was largely due to expansion into new countries and the end of exclusivity deals. They said the iPhone is now available through 185 communication service providers around the world.
In the smartphone operating system race, Apple's iOS grew from a 14.4 percent overall share in 2009 to 15.7 percent in 2010, good for fourth place. But Apple couldn't keep pace with Google Android, which catapulted itself into second place with major 888.8 percent year-over-year growth.
Nokia's Symbian platform remained atop the mobile operating system market with 111.6 million units sold and a 37.6 percent market share. Symbian still holds a significant lead over Android, which was on 67.2 million units and earned 22.7 percent of the market.
In third and just ahead of Apple was Research in Motion, which, for the calendar year 2010, shipped 47.5 million units for 16 percent market share. Apple's iOS remains well ahead of Microsoft, which accounted for just 12.4 million units shipped and 4.2 percent of the mobile operating system market.
The growth of Android and its outpacing of Apple's iOS has been well documented, including one report released this week which showed that, as of December 2010, Android was responsible for 27.7 percent of the U.S. smartphone market. Apple's iOS accounted for 25 percent of smartphone subscribers in America as of the end of 2010.
And in January, research firm Canalys reported that Android, along with Chinese variants OMS and Tapas, had overtaken Nokia to become the top smartphone platform in the world. But the Android platform is distributed by multiple device makers, while Apple makes both the iOS software and iPhone hardware, leaving Apple as the second-largest smartphone maker in the world, according recent data from IDC.
Gartner on Wednesday revealed that worldwide mobile device sales to end users reached 1.6 billion in 2010, driven by the growth of smartphones, which saw a 72 percent increase. Among all handsets -- both smartphones and "feature phones" -- Apple was the No. 5 device maker for the calendar year, selling 46.6 million iPhones.
Apple's share of the total mobile phone market in 2010, according to Gartner, was 2.9 percent, up from the 2.1 percent it earned in 2009 on sales of 24.9 million devices. Apple's growth and near-doubled sales helped to push it past both Sony Ericsson and Motorola, which saw year-over-year declines in sales.
Sony Ericsson came in sixth on sales of 41.8 million handsets, good for a 2.6 percent market share. That was down from the 55 million units and 4.5 percent market share the company enjoyed in calendar year 2009.
It was a similar story for Motorola, which sold 38.6 million units in 2010 and earned a 2.4 percent market share. Both of those figures were down from 58 million units and 4.8 percent share in 2009.
The market leaders also lost ground in 2010, as Nokia slid from a 36.4 percent share in 2009 to 28.9 percent in 2010. But with sales of 461.3 million units in the calendar year, the Finnish handset maker retained its spot as the top mobile device manufacturer.
In second was Samsung, which dropped from 19.5 percent in 2009 to 17.6 percent in 2010. LG Electronics also slid from 10.1 percent to 7.1 percent.
Among the top companies, only Research in Motion joined Apple with year over year growth. The BlackBerry Maker earned a 3 percent market share in 2010 on sales of 47.5 million units, up from 2.8 percent share and 34.3 million units in 2009.
"Strong smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 pushed Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) up in our 2010 worldwide ranking of mobile device manufacturers to the No. 5 and No. 4 positions, respectively, displacing Sony Ericsson and Motorola," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. "Nokia and LG saw their market share erode in 2010 as they came under increasing pressure to refine their smartphone strategies."
Gartner concluded that Apple's 87.2 percent year-over-year growth in 2009 was largely due to expansion into new countries and the end of exclusivity deals. They said the iPhone is now available through 185 communication service providers around the world.
In the smartphone operating system race, Apple's iOS grew from a 14.4 percent overall share in 2009 to 15.7 percent in 2010, good for fourth place. But Apple couldn't keep pace with Google Android, which catapulted itself into second place with major 888.8 percent year-over-year growth.
Nokia's Symbian platform remained atop the mobile operating system market with 111.6 million units sold and a 37.6 percent market share. Symbian still holds a significant lead over Android, which was on 67.2 million units and earned 22.7 percent of the market.
In third and just ahead of Apple was Research in Motion, which, for the calendar year 2010, shipped 47.5 million units for 16 percent market share. Apple's iOS remains well ahead of Microsoft, which accounted for just 12.4 million units shipped and 4.2 percent of the mobile operating system market.
The growth of Android and its outpacing of Apple's iOS has been well documented, including one report released this week which showed that, as of December 2010, Android was responsible for 27.7 percent of the U.S. smartphone market. Apple's iOS accounted for 25 percent of smartphone subscribers in America as of the end of 2010.
And in January, research firm Canalys reported that Android, along with Chinese variants OMS and Tapas, had overtaken Nokia to become the top smartphone platform in the world. But the Android platform is distributed by multiple device makers, while Apple makes both the iOS software and iPhone hardware, leaving Apple as the second-largest smartphone maker in the world, according recent data from IDC.
Comments
"Android hype vehicle set to crash in 2010" Source: RoughlyDrafted Magazine January 2, 2010.
Or have a massive 888.8% year-over-year increase to move into 2nd place world wide; even surpassing Symbian in Q4.
The Android hype vehicle became an unstoppable juggernaut in 2010.
Translation: Apple ranks fifth among handset sellers, in spite of being the only one that offers iOS.
Is "Slash Lane" Dilger's new pen name?
No, if Daniel were writing it would go something like:
"Pundits claim that selling the most units in a mad race to the bottom is a winning strategy, while grabbing the lion's share of what really matters (revenue) means 'losing'.
They're wrong, and here's why..."
Its either selling UNITS, or actual phones. Which Android sold none.
Samsung, HTC, Motorola and those guys sold units.
They throw Android in there for no reason.
They would be lumped in with Platform or Mobile OS instead.
Recently, I was looking to get a stand alone GPS unit, thinking a GPS App. would be too small in my iP4. The interfaces of the stand alones looked clumsy as if they were all designed by Symbian! The resolution was subpar compared to the iP4. So I bought the TomTom App. and it turns out it's the best App. i've bought.
This year I plan to buy an iPad 2, an iPhone 5, an 11" MBA and an ATV!
Best
Or have a massive 888.8% year-over-year increase to move into 2nd place world wide; even surpassing Symbian in Q4.
The Android hype vehicle became an unstoppable juggernaut in 2010.
This whole notion of being an unstoppable juggernaut is ridiculous when there aren't any obstacles in your way to try and stop you. Android is merely gliding on thin ice.
Android is only doing well, because the only real competition (iOS and WP7) is only available on AT&T, which means they're both only available to 33% of the overall US smart phone market. Think about that for a moment. It's only available to 33% of the market, yet has a 25% market share in the US. iPhone has 75% of AT&T's smart phone customers. In fact, there are more AT&T iPhone users than there are Verizon Android users. Carriers want the iPhone, because it pushes smart phone adoption rates - sells more lucrative data plans.
What do you think is going to happen to Android's market share after Verizon iPhones are accounted for? It's going to plummet. The iPhone now reaches almost 70% of the US market and I predict, by the end of this year it will surpass a 40% share, possibly approaching 50%.
It seems that Android fans completely disregard precedents, ignore market realities and continue look at the current market with blinders on.
For instance, Chinese "Android" use is increasing at an exponential rate. And even though they aren't compatible with Android, they're still counted as Android phones. That makes absolutely no sense what-so-ever. Why not concentrate on the Linux share of the market and lump Android in with it? Android is Linux-based, why are they throwing other Linux based OS's into the "other" category? Of course, it's nothing more than marketing hyperbole to make the Android platform appear bigger than it really is. And the fAndroids are eating it up.
Android is only doing well, because the only real competition (iOS and WP7) is only available on AT&T, which means they're both only available to 33% of the overall US smart phone market. Think about that for a moment. It's only available to 33% of the market, yet has a 25% market share in the US. iPhone has 75% of AT&T's smart phone customers. In fact, there are more AT&T iPhone users than there are Verizon Android users. Carriers want the iPhone, because it pushes smart phone adoption rates - sells more lucrative data plans.
iPhone is available on over 100 carriers. In my country, there are 5 carriers that have iPhone 4, yet still Android does well here. Some carriers also give iPhone away for free when you take out a data plan with them.
The notion that Android is only successful in the USA because AT&T has been the only carrier of iPhone is ridiculous. People make a conscious decision to buy an Android phone because it offers what they need. If AT&T's iPhone exclusivity was the reason Android was successful in the USA then surely ALL of the smartphone OSs would be doing well at Apple's expense.
It seems that Android fans completely disregard precedents, ignore market realities and continue look at the current market with blinders on.
Shouldn't they be praised for "thinking different"?
Of course, it's nothing more than marketing hyperbole to make the Android platform appear bigger than it really is. And the fAndroids are eating it up.
And iPads are PC's.
What do you think is going to happen to Android's market share after Verizon iPhones are accounted for? It's going to plummet. The iPhone now reaches almost 70% of the US market and I predict, by the end of this year it will surpass a 40% share, possibly approaching 50%.
Android's growth may be temporarily stunted but not for long. Apple can't expect to hold the marketshare lead when competing with a free OS; however, Apple will most likely maintain its profitshare lead. This will not be a losing position for anyone who understands the purpose for a company's existence.
This is something I just don't understand:
Apple isn't selling more units than others (fifth among handset makers, and 10% of the computer market).
Apple is alone among hardware manufacturers in needing to absorb all the R&D costs of making their own OSes.
Apple is said to spend more on higher-quality components on average than their competition.
So they spend more than anyone else yet they don't sell more than anyone else, so how do they have the highest margins in the industry?
Because they don't sell their products at break even pricing.
So it's just that they cost so much more?
That's not really true. It just seems that way. When you compare like to like, you often find that Apple's stuff is either somewhat less expensive, about the same, or a bit more.
What makes it not seem that way to many people is that they aren't comparing like to like. They'll compare the cheapest piece of junk to an Apple product priced a lot higher and say that it's more expensive. what they have to do is to compare it to something that costs about the same, or to something with the same specs, or quality.
When looking at the Air, you'll find that it's cheaper than an equivalent product, not more. The same thing is true for a number of their products.
The iPhone by itself far outsells any one Android phone alone.
When they talk about Android marketshare they are lumping all of the various phones together.
The iPhone alone is a premium product while Android phones are sold at many various price points.
So they spend more than anyone else yet they don't sell more than anyone else, so how do they have the highest margins in the industry?
Android is quickly moving down into the feature phone market. Because it is a far superior OS than the crap they were using before. It is a far better opportunity for carriers to lock people into their services on cheap phones.
What do you think is going to happen to Android's market share after Verizon iPhones are accounted for? It's going to plummet. The iPhone now reaches almost 70% of the US market and I predict, by the end of this year it will surpass a 40% share, possibly approaching 50%.
I have several friends on Verizon ready to trade in Blackberry's and Android for the iPhone.
The notion that Android is only successful in the USA because AT&T has been the only carrier of iPhone is ridiculous. People make a conscious decision to buy an Android phone because it offers what they need. If AT&T's iPhone exclusivity was the reason Android was successful in the USA then surely ALL of the smartphone OSs would be doing well at Apple's expense.
So it's just that they cost so much more?
It's not just that.
Apple has wisely used its cash reserves to get pricing on major components which I suspect calling "enviable" is an understatement. And in some cases, their purchases have locked up full production capacity so that those options are not even available to others.
I think you are likely to see more and more of this. As a matter of fact, I stated the same somewhere on these forums shortly before the conference call where they announced their $3.9B prepaid component deals.