Snapshot
Tablet shipment for 2011 reached 65.19 million, globally, and Apple led the market with 62% tablet market share. Amazon made up a lot of ground in Q4 2011 and beat Samsung in tablet shipments for that quarter to come in second behind Apple. Barnes & Noble showed the largest quarterly grow from Q3 2011 to Q4 2011, 156%, and ranked fourth in Q4 2011 and the year 2011 overall. Asus tablets dropped in global shipments from Q3 to Q4 but remain in fifth place, while Microsoft is expected to make headway in 2012 and early 2013.

Key Points

• The 2011 tablet market saw Apple maintain its dominance and grow 168% from 2010 tablet shipments (15.1 million) to 2011 (40.493 million), with Amazon rapidly gaining market share and beating Samsung in Q4 2011 tablet market share to gain second place.
• Globally, Apple is ranked as the top tablet OEM in Q4 2011 (15.43 million units shipped), a 39% increase from Q3 2011 (11.123 million units shipped), and the top in 2011 (40.493 million units shipped).
• Amazon ranks second in Q4 2011 tablet shipments, globally, with 3.885 million units shipped, but they are ranked third overall in 2011 with 3.885 million units shipped.

Snapshot
The largest proportion of tablet users, that use a tablet a minimum once per month, in the US based on race in 2012 is expected to be Asian-Americans (20.6%) followed by Hispanic-Americans (18.9%). But in 2014 tablet penetration among the different races is forecasted to narrow, with both Caucasian and Asian-Americans expected to top the list and reach tablet penetration levels of 29% each.

Key Points

• Asian-Americans are now among the first to buy the latest technology as it is estimated that 14.4% of them have used tablets monthly in 2011 versus 12.6% of Hispanics, 10%.5 of African Americans and 10.1% of Caucasian Americans.
• By 2014 it is expected that the early adopter status of Asian-Americans will be met by Caucasian Americans as the gap between the percentage of tablet users in each race will narrow, 29% for Caucasians, 26.5% African Americans, 29% of Asian-Americans, 24.6% for Hispanics and 21.4% for other races (Native Americans, Alaska Native, Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders, Bi/Multiracial Individuals) in the US.

• In 2012, the US is forecasted to see the penetration of tablet users, those who use a tablet at least once per month, reach 16.9% of Caucasians, 17% of African Americans, 20.6% of Asian-Americans, 18.9% of Hispanics and 14.5% of the other races.
• In 2013, the US is forecasted to see the penetration of tablet users, those who use a tablet at least once per month, reach 24% of Caucasians, 22.8% of African Americans, 25.7% of Asian-Americans, 23.3% of Hispanics and 18.5% of the other races use a tablet device at least once per month.
• Overall in the US, 2012 is forcasted to have 17.3% of its population use a tablet at least once per month, 23.7% in 2013 and 27.7% by 2014.

Source eMarketer.com (December 9, 2011)

Reference eMarketer.com

Image Playing on Samisen, Yokin and Kokin by ookami_dou

Snapshot
Samsung (24.3%) has the largest smartphone market share in China, followed by Nokia (below 20% marketshare). Apple’s ranking has dropped to fifth, with only 7.5% market share, behind ZTE (11% market share). In 2012, China is forecasted to reach 1 billion mobile subscribers, with Apple continuing to lose market share to low costing and local brands, such as Huawei and ZTE.

Key Points

• Apple’s iPhone sales in China decline for the second consecutive quarter in 2011, with other local and low-costing smartphone brands making headway.
• Apple’s marketshare in China is also in decline because of their on going lawsuit with a local Chinese manufacturer over the iPad name, along with issues involving their Chinese supplier workforce and their the working conditions.
• China has the world’s largest mobile phone market and in 2012 the number of mobile subscribers in China alone are expected to reach 1 billion.
• Aside from Apple, other major players in the Chinese mobile market are Samsung, Nokia and domestic comapanies, Huawei and ZTE.
• Apple currently, as of Q4 2011, has 7.5% smartphone market share in China and is ranked 5th, a drop from 10.4% in Q3 2011.
• Samsung has the largest smartphone market share in China, with 24.3%, and beat Nokia, who slipped to second and saw their market share drop from 40% in Q1 2011 to less than 20% in Q4 2011.
• It is expected that Apple’s market share will continue to decline for the next few quarters in 2012 as local brands gain ground, such as ZTE, which in Q1 2011 had 3% smartphone market share in China and now has 11% market share in Q4 2011.
• The iPhone is estimated to be priced at more than a Chinese work’s two month salary (approx. 4,988 yuan versus 1,800 yuan for a Huawei phone), this helps explain why lower priced smartphones are doing well in China, according to Frost & Sullivan Analyst, Jayesh Easwaramony.
• A Huawei, low cost smartphone, in China costs 1,800 yuan ($286 USD), versus a 4,988 yuan iPhone 4S.
• Apple, in China, is sold exclusively by China Unicorn, the country’s second ranked telecom operator, and at the moment has not released any sales figures, but estimates of 3 million contract signing are said to have taken place since it was made available in 2009.
• It has also been forecasted that Apple’s smartphone sales in China will rise by 1.4 million in 2012 if they can reach agreement with China Telecom, the country’s third largest telecom operator, by May 2012 to also begin selling Apple iPhone’s, thus bringing 2013 iPhone sales figures to between 2 and 4 million overall.
• Analysis
• C. K. Lu, an Analyst with Gartner, said, “Chinese handset makers have been actively promoting their smartphones with China’s threetelecoms operators, so we saw ZTE and Huawei gain significant market share.”
• Jayesh Easwaramony, an Analyst with Frost & Sullivan, says, “If you want to sell handsets to the mass market, a simple rule of thumb in China is that the handset price has to be close to 70 percent of the monthly salary.”

Source Gartner, Reuters (February 17, 2012)

Reference Reuters

Image  By Thomas Hawk

Snapshot
From 2011 to 2010, mobile phone shipments in Japan have risen 5% to reach 37.96 million. Q4 2011 was dominated by Apple (26.6% market share), for the first time, followed by Fujitsu-Toshiba (18.3%) and Sharp (15.7%). But for the year 2011 as a whole Sharp remains on the top spot with 20.1% market share, followed by Fujitsu-Toshiba (18.8%) and Apple (14.2%).

Key Points

• The iPhone 4S has sparked an increase in the number of Apple mobile phone shipments to Japan, launching Apple to the top spot, with a 26.6% market share, in terms of mobile phone shipments to the country during Q4 2011.
• After Apple, Fujitsu-Toshiba comes in as the largest mobile phone vendor with 18.3% of the market share in Q4 2011, followed by Sharp with 15.7% market share.
• Shipment of mobile phones are said to have increase by 15.2% in Q4 2011 from Q4 2010. In Q4 2010, there were 10.65 million mobile phone units shipped to Japan.
• Of the mobile phone shipments, to Japan in Q4 2011, 64.7% are smartphone shipments.
• In 2011 as a whole mobile phone shipments have increased 5% from 2010 to reach 37.96 million units, this is the second consecutive year of shipment growth.
• Also in 2011 as a whole, Sharp has maintained its dominance as being the top mobile phone vendor for the 6th year in a row with a 20.1% market share, followed by Fujitsu-Toshiba (18.8% market share) and Apple (14.2% market share).

Source IDC (March 8, 2012)

Reference Mainichi Japan

Image By jpellgen

Snapshot
Android has the largest smartphone market share by OS in the EU5 (UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France) and Japan, while in Canada RIM leads in installed user base. iOS has grown or maintain is user base in the EU5 and RIM, unlike the US, has gained market share, overall. Symbian and Microsoft have lost ground in the EU5, but as long as Nokia can maintain its presence in Europe, Nokia’s partnership with Microsoft will boost their presence. Japan’s market is different from the other developed markets in that smartphone penetration remains only at 17%, with iOS and Android combining for a total of greater than 90% smartphone market share.

Key Points

• Android is said to have the largest smartphone market share by OS in the EU5, with 31.2% market share in Q4 2011.
• Nokia’s Symbian OS comes in second after Android with 29.9% market share in the EU5, followed by Apple’s iOS (20.7%), RIM (9.4%), Microsoft (5.2%), Palm (0.2%) and other smartphones making up 3.4%.
• Compared to 2010 Android has increased market share by 12% in the EU5 markets, iOS has either maintained its share or increased it, while Symbian & Microsoft continue their decline and RIM, surprisingly, has gained market share in Europe, unlike its position in the US.
• EU5 Smartphone market share (Q4 2010, Q4 2011)
• UK: Android (18.6%, 36.6%), Symbian (29.6%, 14.5%), iOS (27.4%, 26.4%), RIM (17.1%, 18.3%), Microsoft (4.9%, 2.5%)
• France: Android (19.3%, 35.4%), Symbian (30.2%, 17%), iOS (30%, 25.2%), RIM (8.1%, 9.2%), Microsoft (9.6%, 4.4%)
• Germany: Andriod (11.6%, 33.6%), Symbian (46.4%, 28.4%), iOS (20.7%, 22.2%), RIM (4.8%, 3.3%), Microsoft (12.5%, 7.9%)
• Italy: Android (4.1%, 17.9%), Symbian (67.1%, 52.8%), iOS (12.9%, 15.8%), RIM (5.2%, 4.9%), Microsoft (10%, 7%)
• Spain: Android (7.2%, 32.1%), Symbian (64.7%, 40.4%), iOS (10.1%, 11.5%), RIM (6.8%, 9.7%), Microsoft (9.3%, 4.3%)

• If Nokia is able to maintain its presence in Europe this could help propel Microsoft’s market share and RIM’s growth in the UK can also help spark its app ecosystem, leading to increased market share in Europe.
• In contrast to Europe and North American smartphone reach in Japan is at 17%, a reason for such low numbers is the fact that Japanese mobile consumers have already been using feature phones with advanced capabilities, similar to smartphones.
• In Japan, based on a Q4 2011 monthly average, more than 90% of the smartphone market share is made up of Android (60.5%) and iOS (33.6%) smartphones, followed by Microsoft (5.4%), Symbian (0.3%) and RIM (0.2%).
• Canada also has a unique market as RIM leads in smartphone market share by OS, this is the only region out of major markets (EU5, North America, Japan) were RIM has the largest market share.
• RIM in Canada leads in market share by only 1.4% over Apple’s iOS (31.2% market share), while Android, Symbian, Microsoft and Palm have market shares of 27.8%, 4.5%, 2.9% and 0.6%, respectively.
• RIM has also lost 6% in market share from Q2 to Q4 2011 in Canada but the adoption of a new CEO, in 2012, and the fact that Canada is their home market provides hope for future growth.

Source  comScore (February 23, 2012)

Respondents & Study Method Survey of age 13+ US (10,000 mobile phone owners), UK (5,000 mobile phone owners), FR (4,000 mobile phone owners), DE (5,000 mobile phone owners), ES (4,000 mobile phone owners), IT (4,000 mobile phone owners), CA (5,000 mobile phone owners, reported quarterly), JP (4,000 mobile phone owners) mobile subscribers

Reference comScore

Image Helsinki Finland by jrodmanjr

Snapshot
Apple and Samsung are forecasted to continue their reign in the smartphone market, with 2013 expected to see global smartphone sales of 204.8 million and 251.2 million, respectively, from these OEMs. By the end of 2012, smartphone sales will grow to 675 million units, growth of 38.5% from 2011. Nokia is not expected to see a resurgence from its partnership with Microsoft in 2012 and neither is RIM or HTC. Among the smaller players, Huawei will experience the largest growth, +200% from 2011 to 2012, and reach a global market share of 5.7% by the end of 2012.

Key Points

• Global smartphone sales are expected to grow by 38.5% from 2011(487.3 million units) to 2012 (675 million units) and 34.5% from 2012 to 2013 (907.6 million units).
• The forecasted quarterly growth of smartphone sales from Q4 2011 to Q1 2012 is expected to drop by 13.6%, but from then on global sales will grow 12.4% in Q2 (from the previous quarter), 10.1% in Q3 and 26.4% in Q4 2012.
• Apple: Based on global smartphone vendors, Apple is forecasted to grow to 23.8% market share in Q1 2012 and then drop until mid 2012 but reach 22.7% by the end of the year. Apple’s global smartphone market share is expected to be the following:

• Q1 2012: 23.8%, 32.6 million smartphones
• Q2 2012: 21.8%, 33.6 million smartphones
• Q3 2012: 19.8%, 33.6 million smartphones
• Q4 2012: 22.7%, 48.7 million smartphones
• 2012: 22%, 148.4 million smartphones
• 2013: 22.6%, 204.8 million smartphones

• Samsung: For Samsung global smartphone sales will continue to grow and reach 27.7% market share in 2013, the largest of all vendors. Samsung’s global smartphone market share is expected to be the following:

• Q1 2012: 24.4%, 33.5 million smartphones
• Q2 2012: 25.6%, 39.5 million smartphones
• Q3 2012: 27.4%, 46.4 million smartphones
• Q4 2012: 27.1%, 58 million smartphones
• 2012: 26.3%, 177.4 million smartphones
• 2013: 27.7%, 251.2 million smartphones
• Nokia: Sales for Nokia smartphone are predicted to fall till about mid 2012, but then grow steadly as the sale of Windows Phone devices begins to pick up. Nokia’s global smartphone market share is expected to be the following:

• Q1 2012: 9.1%, 12.5 million smartphones
• Q2 2012: 8.3%, 12.9 million smartphones
• Q3 2012: 7.4%, 12.5 million smartphones
• Q4 2012: 6.3%, 13.6 million smartphones
• 2012: 7.6%, 51.5 million smartphones
• 2013: 6.8%, 61.7 million smartphones
• RIM: The future to Blackberry sales looks bleak as they will continue to lose market share but maintain consistent sales figures in 2012 and 2013 with minor growth, possibly from the UK. RIM’s global smartphone market share is expected to unfold as follows:

• Q1 2012: 8%, 11 million smartphones
• Q2 2012: 6.8%, 10.4 million smartphones
• Q3 2012: 5.5%, 9.4 million smartphones
• Q4 2012: 5%, 10.6 million smartphones
• 2012: 6.1%, 41.4 million smartphones
• 2013: 4.9%, 44.1 million smartphones
• HTC: The future of Android devices are expected to lie with Samsung and HTC, once the most promising Android vendor, will lose out and drop to 5.8% market share by the end of 2012.

• Q1 2012: 4.7%, 6.5 million smartphones
• Q2 2012: 6.3%, 9.8 million smartphones
• Q3 2012: 6.2%, 10.5 million smartphones
• Q4 2012: 5.8%, 12.4 million smartphones
• 2012: 5.8%, 39.2 million smartphones
• 2013: 5.8%, 52.7 million smartphones
• Motorola Mobility: The presence Motorola once had in North American is dwindling down as Apple and Samsung take over. The current year, 2012, is expected to see their global market remain relatively constant around 3%. A further break down of Motorola’s expected global market share are as follows:

• Q1 2012: 3.2%, 4.4 million smartphones
• Q2 2012: 3.1%, 4.8 million smartphones
• Q3 2012: 3.1%, 5.2 million smartphones
• Q4 2012: 2.8%, 6 million smartphones
• 2012: 3%, 20.3 million smartphones
• 2013: 2.7%, 24.6 million smartphones
• Other global smartphone vendors such as Sony Ericsson, LG and ZTE are forecasted to reach global smartphone market shares of 4.5% (30.6 million smartphones), 4% (27 million smartphones) and 4% (26.7 million smartphones) by the end of 2012.
• Huawie, on the other hand, will make more ground and jump more than 200% from 3.5% (16.9 million smartphones) in 2011 to 5.7% (38.4 million smartphones) by the end of 2012.

Source Canaccord Genuity (February 2, 2012)

Reference Forbes

Image By Funstyle

Snapshot
The US demographic segments showing the largest growth in smartphone penetration are households with 6-persons, households with an average income of less than $25k, retired individuals , females, persons aged 55 to 64 and individual with an associated degree. All this points to strong future growth in smartphones sale as late adopters in the US join the mainstream.

Key Points

• Smartphone penetration was found to have grown across almost all demographics in the US, from 2010 to 2011, with some segments achieving high growth than their peers.
• The largest growth in smartphone penetration across major demographic segments (age, gender, household income, household size, education, region) in the US was found to be in households with 6 people (99% growth from Q4 2010 to Q4 2011), this is partly due to low-costing smartphones that are subsidized by carriers when consumers purchase wireless contracts or family plans.
• The next fastest growing US demographic segment after 6-person households is household incomes with under $25k (98% growth from Q4 2010 to Q4 2011), followed by retired employees (92% growth), individuals with an associate degree (80%), age 55 to 64 (79%), female (70%) and living in the midwest region (62%).
• All these high growth US demographics in smartphone penetration point to the increased adoption of low-cost smartphones by cost-conscious segments, and in this case the late adopters.

 
Source  comScore (February 23, 2012)

Respondents & Study Method Survey of age 13+ US (10,000 mobile phone owners), UK (5,000 mobile phone owners), France (4,000 mobile phone owners), DE (5,000 mobile phone owners), Spain (4,000 mobile phone owners), Italy (4,000 mobile phone owners), Canada (5,000 mobile phone owners, reported quarterly), Japan (4,000 mobile phone owners) mobile subscribers

Reference comScore

Image Sextuplets by ColinCarmichael

Snapshot
Smartphone penetration in the UK, Spain, Canada, Italy, the US and France is equal to or above 40%, as of 2011. This has led to an increase in mobile media usage of 9.2% in the EU5 (FR, DE, IT, ES, UK) and 11.6% in the US. in the US and UK has surpassed 50%, as of 2011. Internet traffic from devices other than computers are also beginning to show, with 9.2%, 8.2% and 5.1% of all Internet traffic in the UK, US and India, respectively coming from connected devices (mostly mobile phones and tablets).

Key Points

• Mobile media usage (browsing the mobile web, accessing apps, downloading content) by mobile users in 2011 increased in reach by 9.2% in the EU5 (FR, DE, IT, ES, UK) and 11.6% in the US.
• The largest market share of mobile media users, among the major markets (Japan, UK, US, Canada, Spain, France, Italy, Germany) in December 2011, was found in Japan (76.2%), followed by the UK (56.6%), the US (56.2%), Canada (49.9%), Spain (49.7%), France (43.9%) and Italy (43.6%).

• The Q3 2011 monthly average smartphone penetration in the UK was 51.3% (25.386 million users), 51% in Spain (17.855 million users), 45.3% in Canada (9.103 million users), 43.9% in Italy (21.067 million users), 41.8% in the US (97.865 million users), 40% in France (18.788 million users), 37% in Germany (21.3 million users) and 16.6% in Japan (16.902 million users).
• The total number of smartphone users in the EU5 increased by 44% in 2011 to 104 million users, this translates to 44% smartphone penetration in the EU5.
• The US has particularly shown increased smartphone penetration as smartphone sales made up 60% of all new mobile phone purchases in 2011, up from less than 20% in Q1 of 2009.
• Demand for connective devices (tablets, e-readers and other web-enabled handheld devices) has grown along with the increase in demand for smartphones, this has led to a change in the way the Internet is viewed on these mobile platforms when compared to traditional desktop computers and laptops.
• In December 2011, a majority of Internet traffic in the US came from computers (91.8%) but connected devices have made some headway with an 8.2% share on the Internet traffic, more specifically 5.2% from mobile phones, 2.5% from tablets and 0.5% from other connected devices.
• In 2012, there are expected to be more affordable and innovative connected devices developed by manufacturers as increased 4G network infrastructure is laid down by wireless carriers and an increase in the number of WiFi hotspots.
• Internet traffic from connected devices (mostly mobile phones and tablets), according to data from December 2011, in Singapore made up 11.5% of all Internet traffic, 9.5% in the UK, 8.2% in the US, 7.7% in Australia, 7.1% in Japan, 6.5% in Canada, 5.2% in Spain, 5.1% in India, 2.8% in France and 1.5% in Brazil.

Source  comScore (February 23, 2012)

Respondents & Study Method Survey of age 13+ US (10,000 mobile phone owners), UK (5,000 mobile phone owners), FR (4,000 mobile phone owners), DE (5,000 mobile phone owners), ES (4,000 mobile phone owners), IT (4,000 mobile phone owners), CA (5,000 mobile phone owners, reported quarterly), JP (4,000 mobile phone owners) mobile subscribers

Reference comScore

Image By mungosciko

Snapshot
Android’s smartphone market share has risen to almost 50% in the UK as of the 12 weeks ending February 2012, from about 10% a little over 2 years ago. Combined, the top three smartphone platforms, Android, Apple iOS and RIM’s Blackberry, made up 94.3% of the UK smartphone market share in this period. Along with this data a survey further showed that Apple had the highest loyalty rating and customer satisfaction amongst all smartphone users. Android was also found to be dominant in the last 12 weeks ending February 2012 in Spain, Germany and Australia. In the US, their market share dropped, to 43.4% from 55.1% over the same period last year, and while Apple iPhone sales almost doubled to 47%.

Key Points

• Android is continuing to maintain its hold on the UK smartphone market. Here, they once held a smartphone market share of around 10% in January 2010 which then rose to 37.8% a year later, and now as of the 12 weeks ending February 2012 they make-up almost half (48.5%) the UK smartphone market share, according to a survey.
• Behind Android is Apple, in second place, which has moved mostly hovered around a market share of 30% since 2010. As of February 2012 their market share of UK smartphones is 28.7%.

• RIM sits in third place which, like Apple, have remained somewhat constant over the past two years, except their market share remains around 20% in the UK. As of February 2012 this value is 17.1%.
• While Nokia’s Symbian smartphone market share continually drops, now at 2.4%, Microsoft’s Windows Phone has been given a small boost,from 0.5% in 2011 to 2.5% as of February 2012, from their sales of the Nokia Lumia 800 (which made up 87% of Windows Phone Sales).
• Also, in the 12 week period ending February 2012 smartphones make up 73.2% of all mobile sales in the UK and 51.6% of all smartphone sales were by consumer that already owned one.
• Many of the repeat smartphone buyers, that bought a new smartphone with a different platform than the one they previously own, switched from a Nokia Symbian smartphone to an Android or iPhone.
• The new smartphone sales are also made up of consumers that switched from a feature phone, a majority chose an Android smartphone while the percentages for Apple iOS and RIM Blackberry smartphones are relatively similar to each other.
• A satisfaction levels survey of these UK mobile phone owners showed that smartphone users expressed an average level of 7.9 versus 6.9 for feature phone users, where 10 means the highest level of satisfaction. Of the smartphone users, those with Apple devices rated the highest (8.8 rating), followed by Samsung (8.0) and HTC (7.6).
• When the UK survey respondents were asked if they would remain loyal of their brand when upgrading, Apple topped the list with the most loyal consumers, followed by Samsung and HTC.
• In other markets, as of the 12 weeks ending February 2012, Android has a 58.4% market share of handset sales in Spain, with 52.2% in Australia and 50% in Germany. In the US, Android’s market share drop from 55.1% the same time last year to 43.4%, in contrast Apple jumped from 23% to 47%.
• In the US, during the 12 weeks ending February 2012, of all smartphone sales Android and iOS combined for 90.4%, with RIM’s Blackberry and Windows Phone making up 5.7% and 1.7% respectively.
• Analysis
• Dominic Sunnebo, a Global Consumer Insight Director with Kantar ComTech, thinks Android might have maxed out their UK smartphone reach and said “We’ve seen it stay around the 45%-50% mark for the past few months, but there’s no sign of it going above that.”

Source Kantar Worldpanel ComTech (March 21, 2012)

Respondents & Study Method Survey of 15,000 UK consumers, 12 weeks ending February 19, 2012.

Reference The Guardian

Image by Defence Images

Snapshot
Google’s Android’s smartphone market share, according to a January 2012 survey, was found to be the largest of all smartphone sales in the major markets (UK 49.7%, Germany 61.1%, France 42.3%, Italy 49.7%, Spain 65.8%, Australia 48.8%), except the US (42.6%). In the US, iPhones were found to have the largest market share of smartphone sales in the same period. RIM Blackberry sales made up the largest market share of smartphone sales in the UK, of all major markets surveyed, but Windows Phone is still not making a big enough impact with only 2.2% market share in the UK, the largest of all major markets. Also, Bada was only able to make headway in France with 10.9% market share.

Key Points

• A survey, over 4 weeks ending January 23 2012, found that Android’s smartphone OS now has the largest UK smartphone user base with a 36.9% market share, an increase from 20.1% over the same period in 2011.
• After Android, Apple’s iPhone, during January 2012, was the second most used smartphone in the UK, with a market share of 28.5% (29.2%, January 2011) , followed by RIM with 18.1% (18.7%, January 2011), Symbian with 13.1% (26.7%, January 2011), Windows Phone with 1% and all other smartphone platforms making up less than 5% (this includes Bada, Windows Mobile, etc).
• The survey, in January 2012, also showed that Android’s smartphone market share made up almost half of all smartphone sales in the UK, followed by the iPhone with almost a third, RIM with a little over 15% and other platforms with a combined 6%.
• Among the biggest losers from 2011 were Nokia’s Symbian smartphones which have dropped in market share from 15.2% in January 2011 to 2.8% in January 2012, but Windows Phone on the other had grew from 0.4% to 2.2% in the same time period.
• 50.3% of the UK population now have a smartphone, according to the survey.

• The survey also looked at the smartphone market share of other countries over the same period, January 2012, and found that US smartphone sales were almost all split between the iPhone (48.4%) and Android (42.8%) devices.
• Android smartphone market share was found to be the largest in all the major countries surveyed (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Australia) in January 2012, except the US, and Spain was found to have the largest market share of Android OS sales with 65.8% (14%, January 2011), followed by Germany with 61.1% (27.2%), the UK with 49.7% (37%), Italy with 49.7% (18.7%), Australia with 48.8% (18.7%), the US with 42.6% (54.5%) and France with 42.3% (35.1%).
• iOS smartphone sales had a market share of 48.4% in the US, according to a January 2012 survey, and 21.7% in January 2011, with Australia having a 42.9% market share (21.7%, January 2011), the UK at 29.1% (21.7%), France at 25.7% (20.6%), Germany at 23.4% (31.9%), Italy at 22.4% (19.5%) and Spain at 9.2% (9.2%).
• RIM smartphone sales had a market share of 15.5% in the UK, according to a January 2012 survey, and 23.3% in January 2011, with France having a 11.6% market share (20.6%, January 2011), the Spain at 11% (15.6%), the US at 5.7% (14.3%), Italy at 5.7% (4%), Germany at 2% (2.8%) and Australia at 0.7% (3.7%).
• Windows Phone smartphone sales had a market share of 2.2% in the UK, according to a January 2012 survey, and 0.4% in January 2011, with France having a 2% market share (1.9%, January 2011), Italy at 1.8% (1.4%), the US at 1.5% (3.2%), Germany at 1.5% (1.9%), Australia at 0.9% (2.3%) and Spain at 0.5% (0.3%).

• Symbian smartphone sales had a market share of 19.2% in Italy, according to a January 2012 survey, and 46.8% in January 2011, with Spain having a 13.2% market share (55.3%, January 2011), Germany at 8.2% (28%), France at 4.3% (21.7%), Australia at 4.3% (30.7%), the UK at 2.8% (15.5%) and the US at 0.4% (1.7%).
• Bada smartphone sales had a market share of 10.9% in France, according to a January 2012 survey, and 7.3% in January 2011, with Germany having a 1.6% market share (3.9%, January 2011), Italy at 1.1% (2.7%), the UK at 0.3% (1%), Spain at 0% (2.8%), Australia at 0% (1.5%) and the US at 0% (0%).
• Analysis
• Dominic Sunnebo,a Gobal Consumer Insight Director with Kantar Worldpanel Comtech, in regards to US smartphone sales said, “The jump we saw in Apple’s share last period was clearly not just a blip caused by the iPhone 4S release. Although the majority of growth is coming from the new handset, Apple’s latest pricing structure is also working in its favour with no discernible drop in sales of older iPhone 4 and 3GS models.”
• Dominic followed up by adding, “Windows Phone 7 is also creeping up, taking over 2% of the market for the first time with the Nokia Lumia 800 taking the lion’s share. This looks set to continue with the expected launch of at least two new models at the Mobile World Congress conference. We forecast this will help it to grow its share to around 8% in the latter half of 2012.”

Source Kantar Worldpanel ComTech (February 22, 2012)

Respondents & Study Method Survey of UK consumers and retailers, in the 4 weeks ending January 23 2012 & January 22 2011

Reference The Guardian

Image The original Android, Lt. Commander Data by JD Hancock