Apple's smartphone-only lineup poised to pass Nokia in total mobile phone shipments
Despite selling only a limited selection of high-end smartphones, Apple may soon ship more total handsets than Nokia -- which still offers more than two dozen models, including cheaper feature phones -- as the once-mighty Finnish company falls even further from its throne.
Nokia's mobile phone shipments dropped by 14.9 million units to just 47 million in the first quarter of 2014, according to new data from market research firm Strategy Analytics. Apple, in comparison, shipped 6.3 million more iPhones than it did the year before to end its own fiscal quarter with sales of 43.7 million devices.
That means Nokia's 50-year-old mobile business, which once had a near-monopoly on the handset market, finds itself in a dead heat with Apple and its own 7-year-old mobile platform. Nokia commands 11.5 percent of the global market compared to 10.7 percent for Apple's iPhone line.
"Apple has closed the marketshare gap on Nokia to just one point, and Nokia will have to fight hard to stay ahead in the second half of this year," Strategy Analytics senior analyst Ken Hyers said.
The news is particularly troubling for Nokia because the vast majority of the company's handset sales come in the developing world from feature phones and the low-cost Asha series. Nokia's 220 feature phone, for instance, costs just $60 even without carrier subsidies.
It is not yet known what Microsoft, which closed its acquisition of Nokia's handset business earlier this week, will do with the lower-tier handset divisions. Some believe the company may choose to shutter the feature phone business and focus solely on touchscreen devices running Windows Phone in a bid to counter Android's rapid proliferation in the low end of the market.
Nokia's mobile phone shipments dropped by 14.9 million units to just 47 million in the first quarter of 2014, according to new data from market research firm Strategy Analytics. Apple, in comparison, shipped 6.3 million more iPhones than it did the year before to end its own fiscal quarter with sales of 43.7 million devices.
That means Nokia's 50-year-old mobile business, which once had a near-monopoly on the handset market, finds itself in a dead heat with Apple and its own 7-year-old mobile platform. Nokia commands 11.5 percent of the global market compared to 10.7 percent for Apple's iPhone line.
"Apple has closed the marketshare gap on Nokia to just one point, and Nokia will have to fight hard to stay ahead in the second half of this year," Strategy Analytics senior analyst Ken Hyers said.
The news is particularly troubling for Nokia because the vast majority of the company's handset sales come in the developing world from feature phones and the low-cost Asha series. Nokia's 220 feature phone, for instance, costs just $60 even without carrier subsidies.
It is not yet known what Microsoft, which closed its acquisition of Nokia's handset business earlier this week, will do with the lower-tier handset divisions. Some believe the company may choose to shutter the feature phone business and focus solely on touchscreen devices running Windows Phone in a bid to counter Android's rapid proliferation in the low end of the market.
Comments
According to MS there will be no longer a Nokia.
According to MS there will be no longer a Nokia.
Okay, "Microsoft Mobile" is doomed.
I worked at Symbian when the iPhone came out. We had a company meeting about it, and a lot of people thought it wouldn't succeed because Nokia had the ecosystem and an established mobile business, and hey, everyone wants a physical keyboard, right?
Lots of ideas and talking points were raised, and the management did *nothing*.
I spent the next year working on a version of Symbian OS that was so very obviously years behind iPhone OS 1.
While I was there I watched Symbian go from a marketshare of about 74% to a little over 40%. Symbian messed up. Nokia messed up. I'm amazed Nokia are still selling their feature phones.
Apple will be there one day. They all will. No one stays on top forever.
There must be something about living at the high latitudes that makes some companies scorn what is going on down in the lower lats... Perhaps it has to do with global warming, but whatever it is if it continues, Redmond is next... oh wait, it started in Redmond.
Ever hear of Proctor and Gambles?
Strange article as technically now Nokia doesn't sell any phones
Nokia isn't selling phones anymore, so this article is titled incorrectly
I worked at Symbian when the iPhone came out. We had a company meeting about it, and a lot of people thought it wouldn't succeed because Nokia had the ecosystem and an established mobile business, and hey, everyone wants a physical keyboard, right?
Lots of ideas and talking points were raised, and the management did *nothing*.
I spent the next year working on a version of Symbian OS that was so very obviously years behind iPhone OS 1.
While I was there I watched Symbian go from a marketshare of about 74% to a little over 40%. Symbian messed up. Nokia messed up. I'm amazed Nokia are still selling their feature phones.
Symbian should've followed Android way after 2007 and they would've been still in business: overhaul everything and remake the software "look" and "feel" like iOS. Too bad...their hard headed arrogant executives underestimated the power of iPhone and iOS.
Symbian should've followed Android way after 2007 and they would've been still in business: overhaul everything and remake the software "look" and "feel" like iOS. Too bad...their hard headed arrogant executives underestimated the power of iPhone and iOS.
That would make Apple's job tough - to follow two patent trials. Not good !!!
I worked at Symbian when the iPhone came out. We had a company meeting about it, and a lot of people thought it wouldn't succeed because Nokia had the ecosystem and an established mobile business, and hey, everyone wants a physical keyboard, right?
Lots of ideas and talking points were raised, and the management did *nothing*.
I spent the next year working on a version of Symbian OS that was so very obviously years behind iPhone OS 1.
While I was there I watched Symbian go from a marketshare of about 74% to a little over 40%. Symbian messed up. Nokia messed up. I'm amazed Nokia are still selling their feature phones.
"Weak minds are denied the fruits of observation."
When I saw that first iPhone keynote, I was rather stunned over how difficult it was going to be for the competition to meet or beat it.
But now, seven years later, I'm a bit saddened that seemingly *on one* has really stepped up to the plate with an honest and viable response.
The Nokia/Symbian people have apparently demonstrated their "weaknesses of mind."
Isn't this the very last quarter of Nokia phones before the phone brand rides off into the sunset?
What are you expecting? Sometimes a design is the best it can get. How many things do you use daily whose design is pretty much the same for the last 100 years?
This is still more evidence that the companies who hopped onto the Android platform (i.e. Samsung, HTC, LG, Huawei) instead of continuing with their own platforms or trying to develop their own in response did the right thing. Love it or hate it (and most of you clearly hate it) the Android players are the only ones who stayed in business. What is more, they are being joined by more players (Xiaomi, Amazon, Asus, Acer, Sony, Lenovo) that are going to enter or significantly ramp up their smartphone production this year or next. Funny ... Microsoft is being forced to keep Nokia's Android phone because it is the only Nokia phone that is actually selling. Microsoft's excuse: we will use it to get developing nations into the Windows ecosystem.
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If it weren't for Android, Apple would be the only company in the smartphone (or tablet) business right now.