Without any exaggeration, most of my friends who own an iPhone think that, invariably, it is the most popular phone in the world (OK, maybe there is a little bit of exaggeration, only because I have an Android phone 😉 ). My reaction is a smile. Lets look at some numbers.
Nokia sold 15 times as many phone globally as Apple sold the iPhone. But it is worth pointing out that they both brought in the same amount of revenue.
Amen to Apple’s pricing power.
Smart and Dumb Phones combined:
Top five mobile phone vendors globally in 2009 were Nokia, Samsung, LG Electronics, Sony Ericsson and Motorola. 1.13 billion mobile phones were shipped globally in 2009, down 5.2 per cent from the 1.19 billion units shipped in 2008.
Android:
I researched the device manufacturers who support Android, and so far I counted the following with the Android OS:
- Acer
- Bluelans
- Dell
- Highscreen
- General Mobile
- HKC
- HTC
- Huawei
- Lenovo
- LG
- Motorola
- Samsung
- SciPhone
- Sony Ericsson
- Qigi
I am sure I missed a few. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is by far my favorite (from the spec sheets and pictures). 1GHz processor, 4″ WVGA touchscreen and an 8MP camera (woohoo!). The smallest and newest player would be INQ mobile with the Android OS.
Smart Phone Market Landscape:
Nokia shipped 20.8 million smartphone, RIM shipped 10.7 million and Apple shipped 8.7 million phone is 4Q 2009.
Worldwide market share numbers are: (Source: Gartner)
- Nokia (39%)
- RIM (21%)
- Apple (17%)
- HTC (7%)
- Samsung (3.5%)
Interesting predictions from IDC about the smartphone landscape state that smartphone shipments worldwide will be 390 million by 2013, a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 20.9%. Nokia will still be the market leader worldwide, while Android phones will grow from 700,00 in 2008 to 68 million in 2013, a CAGR of 150%.
Price War: Nokia announced an across the board price cut of upto 10% last month, which is a clear signal of things to come. Nokia expects the smart phone market to grow by 10% in 2010. It is important to note that in the 3Q2009, Nokia’s market share dropped below 40% in the smart phone category for the first time.
Brace yourself for a price war and great deals in 2010 smart phone market. And how about the Google Tablet UI pics on Chromium (chromium.org) website. ‘Things’ just got interesting.
UQ's blog 
iPhone may not be a very good “phone” but it has got to be the best gadget I have ever used. The user experience on the iPhone is far better than any smart phone out there; at least thats what I think. I have used the Nexus One too which is the best Android phone at the moment but it doesnt even come close to the iPhone. Again you have the right to disagree.
Anyways its not just about who builds the best smartphone. Its about who builds the best smartphone ecosystem. And so far, Apple is winning.
Wasif, I agree. Content ecosystem is the name of the game. I read somewhere that mobile apps market for 2010 is appr. $6.5B.
Apple still controls 99.4% of the app market. 🙂
I believe that among the established smart phone manufacturing leaders, Blackberry is in a tight spot at the moment. There was a time when Blackberry was dominant among the business customers – and it is still largely the main contender- but the demands of BB phones users have changed over the time and more is being asked to emphasize on the fun part of the Blackberry experience. More and more business users are switching to iPhone (number is low but the trend has already started) and RIM has to work hard to change the perception that BB phones are only for work and not for play- a trait that used be the hallmark of BB phones.
UQ – good stuff, nice blog.
You may want to recheck the market shares for handset OEMs. I think Samsung should be on #2 spot with roughly 22% market share followed by LG at approx. 12% and then Motoroal and SE. I don’t think RIM, Apple and HTC have more then
Jawad, the market share numbers are for smart phones ONLY. If we consider all phones, then you are right.
……2-3% combined market share??
Anyways two exciting mobile industry news are:
– Symbian goes 100% open source
– Apple Ipad used it’s own AP (Apple A4). It still remains a mystery if they used ARM Cortex A-9 CPU or may be Samsung’s Cortex A-8. But either ways it’s a big setp forward and a great strategic move by Apple.
Keep me posted with your blog.
– Jawad