Verizon iPhone most popular US mobile phone in February

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple's CDMA iPhone sold by Verizon Wireless in the US was the nation's top mobile phone sold during the month of February, according to market research firm comScore.



The firm reported that of the top five phone makers, Apple grew its share of mobile subscribers the most in the last quarter, edging up 0.9 percentage points to hit a 7.5 percent share of the American mobile phone market (not just smartphones).



While four makers are ahead of Apple in the US mobile market, only first place Samsung was able to similarly increase its share of the market, by 0.3 percentage points, to 24.8 percent.



LG remained flat at 20.9 percent, while Motorola shrunk by 0.9 percentage points to a 16.1 percent share, and RIM fell by 0.2 points to achieve an 8.6 percent share of all mobiles sold during the three month period ending in February.



In terms of smartphone platforms, Android was up 7 percentage points to take 33 percent of the smartphone market, while Apple's iOS was the only other smartphone platform to register growth, up 0.2 points to a 25.2 percent share of smartphones.



RIM remained ahead of Apple, with 28.9 percent share, but was down 4.6 points compared to three months ago. Microsoft slipped another 1.3 points despite the release of Windows Phone 7, setting down to a 7.7 share, while HP's Palm webOS platform shrank by 1.1 points to take 2.8 percent share of the smartphone market.



The popularity of Apple's Verizon iPhone, which comScore called "the most acquired handset in the month of February," refutes anecdotal figures advertised by BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk, who recently claimed that Verizon was selling more HTC Thunderbolt phones than Apple iPhones, based on conversations with retail staff.



Verizon itself claimed the iPhone was its biggest phone launch ever, but has made no similar claim about the Android-based HTC Thunderbolt, which boasts 4G data service via Verizon's new LTE network.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 50
    nkalunkalu Posts: 315member
    Really?

    You guys are still pushing this Verizon iPhone thing.

    Get it guys, the war is over. AT&T has iPhone, now Verizon has it too.

    The good news here is that iPhone outsold the so called phones of the 4G networks.
  • Reply 2 of 50
    tofinotofino Posts: 697member
    Good news or bad news - unless the numbers come from apple, it's just guessing.
  • Reply 3 of 50
    shadashshadash Posts: 470member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The popularity of Apple's Verizon iPhone, which comScore called "the most acquired handset in the month of February," refutes anecdotal figures advertised by BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk, who recently claimed that Verizon was selling more HTC Thunderbolt phones than Apple iPhones, based on conversations with retail staff.



    The popularity of Apple's Verizon iPhone also refutes the constant drumbeat of posts on this message board that it would be foolish for Apple to release a CDMA iPhone at all.



    BUT: Even with having the most popular handset, Apple still barely increased its market share (0.2%) for the month. I honestly thought it would have been much more. Meanwhile Android is up 7%. Very strange.
  • Reply 4 of 50
    nkalunkalu Posts: 315member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tofino View Post


    Good news or bad news - unless the numbers come from apple, it's just guessing.



    I agree.
  • Reply 5 of 50
    nkalunkalu Posts: 315member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shadash View Post


    The popularity of Apple's Verizon iPhone also refutes the constant drumbeat of posts on this message board that it would be foolish for Apple to release a CDMA iPhone at all.



    BUT: Even with having the most popular handset, Apple still barely increased its market share (0.2%) for the month. I honestly thought it would have been much more. Meanwhile Android is up 7%. Very strange.



    But iPhone outsold phones which boast 4G data service.
  • Reply 6 of 50
    constable odoconstable odo Posts: 1,041member
    I'm waiting for Apple's official numbers. I suspect iPhone 4 sales were merely good, but not spectacular. Any extra iPhones sold on Verizon is icing on the cake for this quarter. I had hoped a lot of Verizon customers would chuck their Android smartphones and get an iPhone 4, but I suppose that was too much to hope for. I guess it will just have to be a gradual changeover as contracts run out. \
  • Reply 7 of 50
    michael scripmichael scrip Posts: 1,916member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shadash View Post


    I honestly thought it would have been much more. Meanwhile Android is up 7%. Very strange.



    Imagine there are 9 Android phones sitting on the shelf... and 1 iPhone.



    Statistically more Android phones will be sold. Not strange at all.



    But remember... "Android" is a combination of software from Google... and dozens of phones from many manufacturers.



    Any comparison to a single phone from one manufacturer is just silly.
  • Reply 8 of 50
    michael scripmichael scrip Posts: 1,916member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post


    I'm waiting for Apple's official numbers. I suspect iPhone 4 sales were merely good, but not spectacular. Any extra iPhones sold on Verizon is icing on the cake for this quarter. I had hoped a lot of Verizon customers would chuck their Android smartphones and get an iPhone 4, but I suppose that was too much to hope for. I guess it will just have to be a gradual changeover as contracts run out. \



    I bet the Verizon iPhone is selling quite nicely.



    Verizon has 94 million customers... which means there are about 125,000 people who are ending a 2-year contract every day. I'm sure Verizon is moving some units.



    Also, the iPhone started out on only one carrier in other countries too... but ended up on up to 5 carriers today. But that doesn't mean it automatically sold 5 times as many as it did originally.



    The iPhone being on Verizon is a good move overall... more carriers never hurt a phone. But I never expected it to change the world.
  • Reply 9 of 50
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by shadash View Post


    BUT: Even with having the most popular handset, Apple still barely increased its market share (0.2%) for the month. I honestly thought it would have been much more. Meanwhile Android is up 7%. Very strange.



    These are last data sans Verizon iPhone's real impact. Two days (10,11 feb) are just too few. You are going to see the real impact of VZ iPhone in the next two/three PR by comScore (which means 6/9 months).



    Android has a great momentum but you have to wait for the end of so many contracts (in whick android's smartphone are involved) to judge. With VZ and the (yet) possible acquisition of T-Mobile by At&t, I think iPhone can go for the 30s.



    Remember: till last november, when iPhone was available only on At&t (users have the choice in buying iPhone or Android smartphones) on At&t 65% smartphones sold were iPhones (comScore data). So imagine what happen if the same thing would repeat on VZ.



    I think 6/9 months from now you will see iPhone around 30%. Much depends also from WP7, altough Nokia is not so popular in US.
  • Reply 10 of 50
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post


    Verizon has 94 million customers... which means there are about 125,000 people who are ending a 2-year contract every day.



    That's exactly what I mean. comScore data are about 10th and 11st feb. Just too few to judge the real impact of VZ iPhone.



    Guys, I mean: look THIS GRAPH.



    I mean: when users had the chance to choice, they chose iPhone over Android.



    It would be interesting if someone give us the link at the same graph but updated.
  • Reply 11 of 50
    djmikeodjmikeo Posts: 180member
    Considering the fact that the iPhone4 was already 8 months old in February, this is pretty strong. I also suspect that many businesses that were tied to VZ, are starting to replace their aging Blackberrys for the iPhone and that should also increase momentum.
  • Reply 12 of 50
    michael scripmichael scrip Posts: 1,916member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by djmikeo View Post


    I also suspect that many businesses that were tied to VZ, are starting to replace their aging Blackberrys for the iPhone and that should also increase momentum.



    I went to a conference in January... we have it once a year. Almost every person who had a Verizon Blackberry last year is now rockin' an Android device. There is simply no love for the Blackberry anymore.



    It will be interesting to see, in the next year or so, how many people move to the iPhone as well.



    I kinda feel bad for RIM. They started out making enterprise messaging devices and phones. Then they got a huge boost a few years ago in the consumer market.



    Now, it looks like the Blackberry will revert back to being an enterprise device... as consumers simply want more from their phones.
  • Reply 13 of 50
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post


    I kinda feel bad for RIM. They started out making enterprise messaging devices and phones. Then they got a huge boost a few years ago in the consumer market.



    Now, it looks like the Blackberry will revert back to being an enterprise device... as consumers simply want more from their phones.



    Don’t feel bad for them. It’s Natural Selection at work. If you specialize too much and/or fail to adapt to changes in the environment you can push yourself to extinction. I hope they can find a solution but their touch-based phones have been bad and now the PlayBook isn’t looking so hot.



    Android-based vendors have a different issue to deal with. They are all vying for the same resources within their ecosystem. This often has the effect of weakening all within that group without any clear leader as resources are scarce. We’ve seen it with Windows-based PC vendors and it’s likely we’ll see it with Android-based smartphone vendors.



    I think this gives Nokia and MS’ WP7, and Apple’s IPhone and iOS a solid advantage. The iPhone is already taking over 50% of all smartphone profits in a market that is growing in popularity and I don’t see that stopping, even if the increase does slow as they reach closer to to financial monopoly.
  • Reply 14 of 50
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post


    I went to a conference in January... we have it once a year. Almost every person who had a Verizon Blackberry last year is now rockin' an Android device. There is simply no love for the Blackberry anymore. [...]



    Not surprising if Verizon has a stronger presence there. Or if it was any kind of technical conference. Some techies feel the need to be uber-geeky at all times, and that means carrying the most techno-geeky phone. Right up until about Wednesday that meant Android phones. But now that Android is "post-open" they can safely switch to iPhones since there's no more open source ideology to defend. Free at last!



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post


    [...]Now, it looks like the Blackberry will revert back to being an enterprise device... as consumers simply want more from their phones. [...]



    This is exactly what happened to Palm, even though Palm had more of a consumer market presence. What I mean is that RIM, like Palm before it, simply refused to advance their technology in any significant way until it was too late. Palm kept flogging the same old Palm OS horse until the iPhone 2G killed it off. I know. I had a Handspring Visor, Treo 180, Treo 600, and Treo 680. And the only changes Palm made were 1. adding a phone and 2. color. In 10 years of flailing around and doing various random acts of stupidity.



    Now RIM is going to try to milk the enterprise market, because they feel that corporate IT customers are locked in. Just the way Microsoft will milk corporate IT for every last penny they can wring out of them. I think RIM might survive in the long term, but in the short term they're going to take heavy damage.



    It'll take 2 or 3 years for them to get QNX right and to tweak the PlayBook hardware so it's reasonably competitive with iPad. By then it may be too late, but at least RIM controls their own destiny. They design and build the software *and* the hardware. As for the infrastructure, who cares? If they're pandering to the enterprise market, all they need is Outlook and Exchange.



    RIM has even said that they will offer a Java runtime on PlayBook. To run Android apps, of all things. I wonder if Google will grant them Post-Open Android Approval...
  • Reply 15 of 50
    sciwizsciwiz Posts: 77member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post




    The popularity of Apple's Verizon iPhone, which comScore called "the most acquired handset in the month of February," refutes anecdotal figures advertised by BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk, who recently claimed that Verizon was selling more HTC Thunderbolt phones than Apple iPhones, based on conversations with retail staff.




    I don't know how it refutes the Iphone being "the most acquired handset in the month of February," considering HTC Thunderbolt wasn't even released in February. Two different metrics.
  • Reply 16 of 50
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    Speculation: The HTC Thunderbolt is selling so well because of so many frustrated Android users who see no other way to upgrade their OS than to buy a new handset. The 4G is just a "bonus", since it can't be disabled, kills battery life, the service isn't widely available, and Verizon 3G is vastly inferior to AT&T's.
  • Reply 17 of 50
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cpsro View Post


    Speculation: The HTC Thunderbolt is selling so well because of so many frustrated Android users who see no other way to upgrade their OS than to buy a new handset. The 4G is just a "bonus", since it can't be disabled, kills battery life, the service isn't widely available, and Verizon 3G is vastly inferior to AT&T's.



    It’s not fairing well at all. You really can’t turn the 4G off? At least you can turn Spritn’s WiMAX off if needed.
    edit: Verizon and HTC have a solution. A battery backpack that puts it within striking distance of the iPad 2’s weight and the thickness of a MBP :
  • Reply 18 of 50
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Cpsro View Post


    Speculation: The HTC Thunderbolt is selling so well because of so many frustrated Android users who see no other way to upgrade their OS than to buy a new handset. The 4G is just a "bonus", since it can't be disabled, kills battery life, the service isn't widely available, and Verizon 3G is vastly inferior to AT&T's.



    While I agree the Thunderbolt is mediocre except having LTE, let's not underestimate the need of 15-25MB/s speed on a smartphone.
  • Reply 19 of 50
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by drobforever View Post


    While I agree the Thunderbolt is mediocre except having LTE, let's not underestimate the need of 15-25MB/s speed on a smartphone.



    What Verizon says there network can handle and what the LTE hardware in the device says it will handle will be very different from the real world data rates of these devices. We?re still limited to the comparatively slow processing of this low-power mobile HW. The best I?ve seen from LTE on Verizon is inline with HSPA from T-Mobile USA.



    Here is one video comparison of the Thunderbolt to the Verizon iPhone 4.
    What?s funny is that the results are inline with my AT&T iPhone while getting industry leading battery life.
  • Reply 20 of 50
    freshmakerfreshmaker Posts: 532member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    What Verizon says there network can handle and what the LTE hardware in the device says it will handle will be very different from the real world data rates of these devices. We’re still limited to the comparatively slow processing of this low-power mobile HW. The best I’ve seen from LTE on Verizon is inline with HSPA from T-Mobile USA.



    Here is one video comparison of the Thunderbolt to the Verizon iPhone 4.
    What’s funny is that the results are inline with my AT&T iPhone while getting industry leading battery life.



    The Thunderbolt is VERY fast. A couple of coworkers of mine have it, and they were getting 18mps down and 25mps up per Ookla's Speed Test app. By comparison, my Verizon iPhone 4 got 2mps down and 1.5mps up. Verizon's LTE kills anything else out there - Sprint, AT&T, or T-Mobile. It remains to be seen though how it performs under load. The Thunderbolt is the only phone on the network so far, besides some aircards and mobile hotspots.
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