According to a new report for Canalys, global smart phone shipments in Q3 2009 rose 4% year on year, slower than the 13% annual growth seen last quarter, and held back primarily by a 6% fall in EMEA. Shipments in North America were up 5%, but the APAC region saw a remarkable 26% rise after several flat quarters.
Nokia retained its worldwide smart phone lead, with a share of 40% – slightly up on its year-ago position, but down almost 5% sequentially. RIM held onto second place with a largely unchanged (compared to Q2) share of 21%, while Apple reached a new high of 18% share in third, significantly up from the 14% it held in Q2 as supply of the iPhone 3GS improved in many countries. HTC retained its fourth-place position with 5% share.
Looking at the market by operating system, Symbian’s overall lead shrank as its share fell to 46%, ahead of RIM and Apple. Microsoft remained in fourth with its share dipping slightly below last quarter’s previous low point of 9%. The proportion of smart phones running Google’s Android OS climbed to almost 4%, from just under 3% in Q2.
“The smart phone market continues to hold up pretty well,” commented Canalys senior analyst Pete Cunningham, in the press release. “While growth has undoubtedly slowed, it is still outperforming the overall mobile phone market by some margin, as well as driving data revenue for operators, and smart phones are ushering in a range of changes in user behaviour when it comes to what people actually do on their phones.”
Notable performers in Q3 included Apple and RIM, which both saw a new record volume of devices shipped in the quarter. “Demand for the iPhone 3GS far outstripped supply,” Cunningham added. “And we expect to see continued growth for Apple, especially with new operators coming on board, for example in the UK with the end of O2’s exclusivity on the device. Our end-user research indicates growing demand for touchscreen products and Apple’s satisfaction ratings in our surveys are consistently the highest of any vendor. Furthermore, the iPhone’s appeal is not limited to the consumer market, in our October study of 600 European decision makers in medium and large enterprises, more than 20% said they expect the iPhone to be the dominant smart phone platform for running business applications in their organisation within the next 3 to 5 years. In France, the iPhone was ahead of Windows Mobile and RIM in this regard – a remarkable result.”
Operator exclusivity is likely a barrier for many companies. While Apple leads in France, Canalys’ enterprise survey shows RIM in pole position in the UK, and Windows Mobile holding a strong lead in Germany. But Apple is already ahead of Microsoft in the minds of those UK decision makers and wider availability can be expected to translate to greater acceptance among business buyers.
“As well as enjoying a sustained strong position in the UK and North America, RIM is seeing great growth in other parts of the world and overcoming some difficult market conditions,” added Chris Jones, principal analyst and VP, in the press release. “Despite overall market contraction in both Latin America and the Middle East, RIM saw strong growth in both of these regions, of 54% and 214% respectively. This was aided by demand for the Curve 8900 and the newly introduced Curve 8520, and supported by specific in-country marketing campaigns and promotions.”
Nokia remains the smart phone volume leader by some distance and its share is stable year on year. In Q3 it suffered somewhat from component shortages as suppliers reduced capacity due to the overall market slowdown, but while its smart phone volume was down 10% in EMEA year on year, in the APAC region 29% growth put it comfortably ahead of the market average. “Much of the recent growth in the smart phone market has come in the high tier, with products like the Nokia N97, the iPhone and the BlackBerry Bold,” observed Rachel Lashford, MD of Canalys APAC. “Vendors are now beginning to drive smart phones into a new segment, with products such as the Nokia 5230, targeting consumers who are new to smart phones. We expect this to boost growth and penetration of smart phones substantially over the next two years. There will be increasing competition in this space – T-Mobile, for example, is already offering the Huawei-built, Android ‘Pulse’ on pre-pay, and it is likely we will see more Symbian devices being pushed at price-sensitive segments.”
The changing dynamics of the smart phone industry will be one of many topics discussed at the Canalys Mobility Forum in London on November 17. Full details are available at http://www.canalysmobilityforum.com.
Source: Canalys
MacDailyNews Take: “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, April 30, 2007
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Michael L.” for the heads up.]
” ‘There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance,’ said Ballmer. “
May Ballmer be in charge at Microsoft, for as long as it takes!
*ice clinks as I drain my glass*
Does any body knows if Steve Ballmer still laughing? can you hear him?
I think that “giggling” we hear is a bit manic, don’t you?
18% of the smartphone market … what percentage is that of the much larger mobile phone market? Small enough to be laughed off as “a rounding error”?
Job’s original prediction … was that a percentage of the entire market? Of the smartphone niche? I forget, being too archaic to give a rat’s ***, does anyone remember? I just remember them making it with just a bit to spare … like … months? Not precisely a “near thing”, going by duration rather than standard calendar.
…”Windows Mobile holding a strong lead in Germany”
Is there a joke somewhere in that phrase…?
The first thing that came to mind was that “Seinfeld” was canceled over there after a very short run, and replaced by “Hogan’s Heroes” (the German audiences apparently didn’t like the Seinfeld humour and preferred WWII show. Go figure…).
DLMeyer:
Jobs have himself a year to attain 1% of the entire mobile phone market (including cheap/free-with-plan throw-away Nokias). At the end of that first year, the score was around 1.2%, and is around 2.5% now (if I remember the numbers well).
@ Troy
No. He’s just farting and throwing couches across the room.
I don’t even KNOW of anyone who owns a Nokia.
Are all their numbers from overseas?
I do not know how Ballmer learned to round off numbers…
just my $0.02
@ The Other Steve
See where it says “Worldwide”?
Microsoft OS -33.1% ‘growth’…rounding error…ROUNDING ERROR!!!
at least that “-0.1” part?
I liked watching Hogan’s Heroes when I was growing up, even though I knew that it had absolutely nothing to do with the terrible reality of prison camps in WWII.
To be honest, Seinfeld was hit or miss humor for me. Sometimes an episode was funny – golfball in whale’s blowhole, do the opposite, or “no soup for you.” Other times the show focused on a large nose or something to the point of being irritating.
Someone please post a link to a comparison of profits among these phone makers.
THEN we’ll see what’s really going on . . .
I loved the shower garbage disposal one. And Wide Lanes.
The shrinkage one was the funniest.
Wow, WinMo is on pace to ship about 13M licenses this year, compared to 20M last year. That’s pathetic! A rounding error.
Predrag, that sounds about right … thanks very much.
i was in paris a few weeks ago; iphones everywhere.
Don’t read too much into Apple’s market share. Q3 is the launch quarter for new iPhone models and their share will be disproportionately large for this quarter. In Q3 2008, their share was around 17 percent too – and they had dropped to around 13 percent by Q2 2009.
– HCE
Helen’s crazy dancing was exquisite! Loved the show!!!
Oh. Go Apple!