Why Smartphones are Moving at a Dull Pace?
Mainly because of the harsh economic climate,
observes Gartner. The research firm says that the worldwide smartphone
sales reached the lowest growth rate of 11.5% with 36.5 million units
sold in the third quarter of 2008. Nokia maintained its No. 1 position
with 42.4% market share.
"The current economic climate is negatively impacting
sales of higher end devices,” said Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at
Gartner. “Going forward, we should expect the smartphone device market
to continue to grow but at a slower pace. Although leading mobile
operators are subsidizing more smartphones, to reach lower prices they
tie the device to two year contracts with monthly data plan rates which
remain too expensive for the mainstream user.”
Nokia maintained its No. 1 position with 42.4% market
share in the third quarter of 2008, but for the first time it recorded a
decline in sales of 3% year-on-year.
Worldwide: Preliminary Smartphone
Sales to End Users byVendor, 3Q08 (Thousands of
Units)
|
Company |
3Q08 Sales |
3Q08 Market Share (%) |
3Q07 Sales |
3Q07 Market Share (%) |
3Q08- 3Q07 Growth (%) |
|
Nokia |
15,472 |
42.4 |
15,964 |
48.7 |
-3.1 |
|
Research In Motion |
5,800 |
15.9 |
3,192 |
9.7 |
81.7 |
|
Apple |
4,720 |
12.9 |
1,104 |
3.4 |
327.5 |
|
HTC |
1,656 |
4.5 |
1,315 |
4.0 |
25.9 |
|
Sharp |
1,239 |
3.4 |
1,535 |
4.7 |
-19.3 |
|
Others |
7,626 |
20.9 |
9,643 |
29.4 |
-20.9 |
|
Total |
36,515 |
100.0 |
32,753 |
100.0 |
11.5 |
Under the name HTC, Gartner counts only the
company's own-branded devices. The devices that HTC designs for mobile
operators are shown separately under the operators' names in these
statistics.
Source: Gartner (December 2008)
Sales of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry smartphones
increased 81.7% in the third quarter of 2008. RIM continued to expand
its presence within the consumer segment and refreshed its portfolio
with new models and form factors.
Apple regained its No. 3 position in the global
smartphone market and improved its market share to 12.9% in the third
quarter of 2008.
For the smartphone operating system (OS) market,
Symbian commanded 49.8% of the global sales to end users in the third
quarter of 2008 and for the first time its share went below the 50%
mark.
Worldwide: Preliminary
Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System, 3Q08
(Thousands of Units)
|
Company |
3Q08 Sales |
3Q08 Market Share (%) |
3Q07 Sales |
3Q07 Market Share (%) |
3Q08- 3Q07 Growth (%) |
|
Symbian |
18,179 |
49.8 |
20,664 |
63.1 |
-12.0 |
|
Research In Motion |
5,800 |
15.9 |
3,192 |
9.7 |
81.7 |
|
Mac OS X |
4,720 |
12.9 |
1,104 |
3.4 |
327.5 |
|
Microsoft Windows Mobile |
4,053 |
11.1 |
4,180 |
12.8 |
-3.0 |
|
Linux |
2,622 |
7.2 |
2,884 |
8.8 |
-9.1 |
|
Palm OS |
780 |
2.1 |
383 |
1.2 |
103.3 |
|
Others |
361 |
1.0 |
345 |
1.1 |
4.6 |
|
Total |
36,515 |
100.0 |
32,753 |
100.0 |
11.5 |
The "Others" category includes sales of Sharp
Sidekick devices based on the Danger platform.
Source: Gartner (December 2008)
The success of iPhone 3G sales in the third quarter
of 2008 propelled the Mac OS X to the No. 3 position in the global OS
provider rankings. For the first time, iPhone sales exceeded sales of
Microsoft Windows Mobile devices worldwide and in North America.
In the shorter term, open-source initiatives like
Android and Symbian Foundation will challenge Windows Mobile’s licensing
model. In addition, the lack of a competitive user interface will
continue to limit Microsoft’s mobile device usability when facing
competitive consumer smartphones, says Gartner.
On a regional level, according to Gartner, North
America was the fastest growing market, with a 68% increase in the third
quarter of 2008. RIM and Apple did particularly well in the region with
both vendors accounting for more than 70% of the smartphone market in
the third quarter of 2008. Apple regained second position behind RIM
with 25.4% market share.
Smartphone sales in Europe, the Middle East and
Africa (EMEA) increased 14% year-on-year. The region saw Nokia’s share
decline nearly 8 percentage points in the third quarter of 2008 but
still maintaining its leading position and saw Apple gain the No. 2 spot
with 15.6% share, moving in front of HTC and RIM.
The markets in Asia/Pacific and Japan, according to
Gartner, declined 11% and 23%, respectively in the third quarter of
2008. In Latin America, despite the decline in sales for all handsets,
the smartphone market grew 56% in the third quarter of 2008. The sales
were bolstered by the official introduction of Apple’s iPhone 3G across
a dozen of countries.
