No wonder Apple is suing HTC for patent infringement over its Android phones. In the three months between October and January, Android’s overall share of smartphone subscribers in the U.S. rose 4.3 points to 7.1 percent, according to mobile market share data released by comScore. Android showed the biggest single gain of any of the top five smartphone platforms. Apple’s share was virtually flat at 25.2 percent (up 0.3 percent), while RIM’s Blackberries saw a 1.7 percent gain to 43 percent.
Overall, 42.7 million people in the U.S. owned a smartphone during the period, up 18 percent. So even though Apple’s relative share didn’t go anywhere, it still grew with the market. But watching RIM and Android phones take share cannot be pleasant for the folks at Cupertino. The iPhone still rules the mobile Web, but again here Android is catching up fast. Time to release a new iPhone.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Palm saw drops in their shares. Windows Mobile was down 4 percent and Palm was down 2.1 percent.
| Top Smartphone Platforms
3 Month Avg. Ending Jan. 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Oct. 2009 Total U.S. Age 13+ |
|||
| Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers | |||
| Oct-09 | Jan-10 | Point Change | |
| Total Smartphone Subscribers | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A |
| RIM | 41.3% | 43.0% | 1.7 |
| Apple | 24.8% | 25.1% | 0.3 |
| Microsoft | 19.7% | 15.7% | -4.0 |
| 2.8% | 7.1% | 4.3 | |
| Palm | 7.8% | 5.7% | -2.1 |
Photo credit: Flickr/svensonsan.
Yet no progress on the iPhone for Verizon front.
I always take a deep breath before checking comments related to patent issues. Simply, cuz it’s frustrating and amusing to see people without the slightest idea of how the patent system work, and start out bashing big corporates and the mostly innocent patent office.
Patent infringements occur when an existing invention/patent by another that DOES NOT PREDATE the patent who claims infringement and is either identical or an obvious variation to the patented CLAIMS. So, the issue is whether the invention/patent by another with a LATER date is not an obvious variation of the granted patent or not. This is not some big corporate with lots of money stealing KNOWN ideas and crushing the little people.
The issue of big companies buying out ideas/people and taking credit is a different issue.
All the details scrutinized: http://bit.ly/apple-htc-lawsuit-examined
This deals with market % how? You copy and paste this paragraph on every social site?
Being market leader in a competitive space is new ground for the folks in cupertino. The bottom line is that they are going to have to start freeing up their beloved ecosystem. Free GPS and the likes of grooveshark are going to eat them up if they don’t.
So new in fact, that they haven’t yet done it! I know RIM is boring and all, but they are still the market leader. They sell more units than Apple, they are growing faster than Apple, and they have more of the market than Apple. How does that make Apple the market leader?
You should include iPod Touch users as well.
And include laptop users too. -s-
Why? This is a study of smartphone users. The iPod is not a smartphone.
Android had 3 high profile device releases within that time period. Apple had none. I’m sure that had nothing to do with it.
Um, if Android sucked, then those folks would have bought an iPhone, or kept their existing iPhone, and Apple’s market share would have most likely grown more. But Android didn’t suck, so it stole customers away from the other platforms, including the iPhone. I see a lot of Droids out there these days – it’s definitely hurting Apple’s sales.
This is usage data of current subscribers, not sales data. This isn’t about how many phones sold during a specific period, it is about the percentages of subscribers, and the phones they are using. It doesn’t matter if they bought the phone January, or two years ago.
How in the world RIM grew by 1.7%?
By selling an attractive range of phones to new and existing customers.
I don’t think it’s actually any more complex than that.
now factor in that apple products see heavy seasonal fluctuations for quantity sold, and that the christmas season, their heaviest, plus expansion into several new markets internationally was what kept them relatively even in that chart, and it makes even more sense. new year to summer is when they have their biggest lull until the new model is released.
i am not predicting doom for apple, but if last quarter shows flat growth, that portends negative growth in market share until perhaps summer.
It would help if Apple were to do two things:
1. Make the device available on VZW & T-Mobile.
2. Have clear unambiguous policies for the App Store.
Let me get right on that, It’s not really a big deal.
Sent from my iPhone
please realize only you and 10 angry developers care about the App Store’s “unambiguous policies”.
I am not an app developer and so my reasons to care are different. As a consumer, I do care about more control of the how i personalize/use the device.
Don’t take me wrong, I like the iPhone but I would like to see Apple in the role of an innovator who is constantly executing new ideas that make it easier for the consumer to do things on the device BUT leave the choice of what/how to the consumer itself.
I AM a developer and I am very pleased with Apple policy for the AppStore. It benefits both developers and end users because it tries to clean-up the spam out of the AppStore.
The benefit to the user is that it makes easier for him or her to find the app he or she is looking for.
An example: one of my apps was released in the entertainment category. It first appeared on the 14th page of the What’s new section. The previous pages were occupied mostly by useless apps and sexy pics crap with names starting with AAA in order to be placed forward in the alphabetical sorting of the apps released the same day.
Apple’s anticompetitive actions are in plain sight ! Android is more open. We are soon to see great successes on the Android marketplace for mobile apps !
Another report to the FCC or feds.
Blah blah blah. *yawn*
AT&T only has so many subscribers and those who are inclined to get IPhones already have them. Until they get on another network they are gonna stall while andriod now has a phone or soon will have a phone on every major US carrier. we will see how these shares change as the year progresses and apple gets access to those millions of verizon customers
bull.
In general, people don’t get the iPhone because they are AT&T customers; they are AT&T customers because they got an iPhone.
Scaling across carrier vendors is going to net incremental gains.
Wow! Google has 7.1%!
Oh wait, that means they have barely over a third of Microsoft’s share, barely over a fourth of iPhone’s share, and just a shade over a seventh of RIM’s share; why again should I care about Android?
Seriously, I’m amazed how much run Android gets from the geek world considering they are as much of a factor as Palm.
I believe it’s the percentage gain in such a short period
And remember this is a three month average ending in Jan. With the new Android devices and increased awareness, I expect that now they’ve probably moved another 4-5%.
And iPhone staying flat must be worrisome for Apple. They aren’t exactly at RIM numbers yet.
new android device? ahahaha windows phone 7 destroys it moron
This flat growth on iphone sales could be worrying apple and leading it to taking desperate measures. No doubt some droid users are beginning to use the word of mouth to campaign for power features on the droid such as genuine multi-tasking and flash support. Coincidentally Android apps are increasing at a higher rate than iphone app store. http://blogs.computerworld.com/15692/android_marketshare_growing_iphone_shrinking_says_quantcast?page=1
And soon this world will be flooded with cheap android smart phones. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9162638/They_re_here_Cheap_Android_smartphones. Its already beginning, check this out. Apple naturally is going to be very vigorous in this patent case. Keep your eyes wide open, this is the beginning of long legal wrangles involving Google, Apple and Microsoft.
Most of it is no great surprises in there. Android has had several massive launches so its large growth is to be expected. Apple has been all quite on the iPhone front so the lack of a massive increase is not suprising. Win Mo is crap and the Palm phones have largely flopped so their decline is in many ways welcome. The only thing that really shocks me is RIM’s growth.
Who honestly buys those things? I didn’t think business users would have been splurging on new Blackberries over that period. Anyone who wants a consumer phone and buys something off of RIM needs their head testing.
Keep in mind that this doesn’t reflect the penetration of Palm’s webOS devices after Verizon started selling them with a ton of heavy promotion. I have little doubt that their market share will show some growth in the subsequent time period.
Who buys RIM, well if those figures are to be believed, nearly twice as many Americans as buy the i-phone, and if you look internationally Nokia sell far more than either of them.
So much for the myth that Apple have the smart phone market sewn up as has oft been parroted by some on here.
But who actually makes the most money out of their mobile business? Forget all this market share crap, it’s always been pretty much irrelevant unless your an analyst trying to hustle some shares.
Apple & RIM totally destroy all of the other companies on the list in actual profits. RIM charge $5-10 dollars for every phone just for the service. Apple have an app store plus you can double the amount of units sold if you factor in the ipod touch.
Apple and RIM are so far ahead its a joke…
Why would I care about Apple, Inc’s profits? All I care about is the health of the platform. And the only measure for that is marketshare and growth.
So margins are unimportant?
unless youre a ashareholder or fanboy, yes profit doesnt matter
Vitrolix: the real issue is how the market share translates in to actual dollars. The value of the whole eco system matters more than any market share amount, especially if your a developer. For example, blackberry has the most smart phone market share, but how many of those users buy apps? Iphone users buy more apps and have a tried and tested way to do it. If I were to develop an app based on market share the blackberry should get me better paid but that isn’t the reality is it? Iphone apps kill blackberry app sales.
Android will have a growing market share for a while until windows phone 7 come out. Then its game over. I’m not sure googles partners appreciate googles tactics or being embroilled in lawsuits with apple. I see no reason why they wouldn’t switch to wp7 based OS. Its not like there are millions of people who own tons of apps on android devices that just can’t let them go. And who knows whether your app will even play on the next update of android the way google do things. I’m not even sure your app will fit the next screen size google decide to support. Its all a big mess at the moment and think google are going to run out of road soon.
Android is smart phone platform that seems to have been marketed to feature phone manufacturers who don’t care about cultivating a platform. That’s androids problem right there. And there is no loyalty in the feature phone market. People will move to another device with a different OS without even flinching. Your average joe isn’t going to notice or care about the switch from android to wp7.
albsure: your assumption that android will stop selling once windows 7 launches has no justification. Android provides a developer friendly platform, its cheap for OEMs and its being embraced by contract equipment manufacturers (See Taiwan Networks). Mid this year there will be dozen handsets produced by different manufacturers which will be below $100.00. Now tell me how is windows 7 going to stop that momentum???
you can blame At&t for the slow growth in iphone.
Or the fact that they didn’t release anything in this time period.
I cannot understand how Apple’s business model will succeed now in a mobile world that includes viable alternatives.
Palm is still around?
Most people I think are just biding their time waiting for Windows Phone 7 Series. I expect to see quite a different landscape once it is released.
Yeah…I’m sure this is the reason apple is suing HTC for patents infringement. Obviously Erick has never invented anything in his life.
Here is why the Android has gotten a boost…cause Verizon finally got some good phones… Everyone I know who has a Droid loves it. Verizon didn’t have that type of phone before. So they are now able to offer a great smartphone experience.
Android released 3 or more new phones in the last couple months. Probably explains the android uptick.
Lots of people are waiting for Apple to release a new iphone in June. Apple could pass Rim by Christmas.
Nexus and Droid sales are still horrible. Nexus did 80k in launch month and analysts now slashing their Google phone targets.
These aren’t SALES figures, they are USAGE figures! Anyone “biding their time” waiting for a new iPhone, assuming they already have an old iPhone, is still counted in these numbers!
Of the 42.7 million people in the US with a smartphone, 10.7 million of them have an iPhone. It doesn’t matter if that subscriber has owned three iPhones, and plans on buying a fourth when the new one comes out, they are still just one subscriber! Things like how many hot new phones came out the month of the study don’t effect the number of iPhone users, unless some people are getting rid of their iPhone to get one of these hot new phones.
The point of these figures is that over the course of this study, the percentage of iPhone users relative to the rest of the market stayed flat. That isn’t to say Apple didn’t sell any phones, in fact over the holiday season (which this report covers), Apple sold a TON of iPhones! However, they sold that ton of phones to basically people who already owned older iPhones, not to people new to the iPhone.
This is the whole problem with that x-million iPhones sold argument. A phone sold does not equal a new user. Plenty of people upgrade their phones, and you can very easily end up in a position like Apple’s, where you have sold tens of millions of phones to only ten million users.
Put it this way,
RIM leads by a huge margin, Apple second followed by Microsoft.
Google and palm’s share is pretty abysmal.
The only companies I invest in are Google and all major tobacco company’s and I’ve had 120% gain over the last year.
The Padrino
http://www.thepadrino.com
Where is Nokia?
Most people I think are just biding their time waiting for Windows Phone 7 Series. I expect to see quite a different landscape once it is released.