Q2 Worldwide market share stats

[slitchfield]

ABI Research are quoting Q2, 2008 phone sales figures (via IntoMobile). On average, growth was around 18%, bucking the worldwide financial situation. 301 million phones were shipped during the quarter, with Nokia selling over 40% , and with Samsung in second place with 15%. Motorola, LG and Sony Ericsson are each around the 9% mark, with Apple estimated around 2% and lumped with other tier two manufacturers into an 'Others' category.

Read on in the full article.

[ashu]

hey steve.

Just look at these figs. More than half the world is dominated by the nokia and samsung. Given samsung recent shift towards symbian, it looks it gonna be a symbian os world. But then what about the competition.

Simple laws of economics says, monopoly restrains innovation. Will it stretch symbian to deliver the goods to customers who are always looking for something new. (atleast i do!)

[davidmaxwaterma]

> with Apple estimated around 2% and lumped with other tier two manufacturers into an 'Others' category.

Gotta laugh

Apple is probably quite happy with their percentage in the $500 and up market.

[davidmaxwaterma]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Apple is probably quite happy with their percentage in the $500 and up market.

Sure., they may well be.

This comment does remind me of the 'alleged' merging of the smart and feature phone categories. These sorts of categorisations make less and less sense these days.

I mean, if Apple charge more and more, then they will likely have an even bigger share of the '> $iphone' market since there are fewer and fewer phones in the higher price market.

Anyway, isn't the iPhone cheaper than $500? I thought it was something like $200 ...or are you including all the extra charges too (contract/etc)?

$200 is the subsidized price, they get the full price from the carrier, just like other manufacturers.

[davidmaxwaterma]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

$200 is the subsidized price, they get the full price from the carrier, just like other manufacturers.

Hrm. Seems like some people are picking and choosing when it costs $200 and when it costs $500. It's $200 when you compare the price against other phones, but $500 when you consider the market it's competing in. I smell a rat.

[Tzer2]

Hrm. Seems like some people are picking and choosing when it costs $200 and when it costs $500. It's $200 when you compare the price against other phones, but $500 when you consider the market it's competing in. I smell a rat.

The rat is that you cannot buy an iPhone for $200. That's just the first payment on a contract, but the contract means you are legally obligated to make more payments for 2 years.

The only fair price for comparison purposes is the SIM-free price, which is the total cost of the actual hardware.

Anyway, isn't the iPhone cheaper than $500? I thought it was something like $200 ...or are you including all the extra charges too (contract/etc)?

The full price of the actual iPhone is about 500 - 600 dollars plus taxes, which is what it costs in countries where you can buy it SIM-free.

Contacts are really just ways of buying a phone on credit, that's why you have to pass a credit check to get one. The monthly fee includes paying for the hardware.

Contracts which offer phones for $0 aren't really giving phones away, you still pay for the phone over the course of the contract. That's why more expensive models have higher monthly fees, because you're having to pay back a larger total price.

Contracts which offer phones for $200 aren't really charging $200, that's just the first installment. The total cost is much much higher.

Apple is probably quite happy with their percentage in the $500 and up market.

Yes, definitely, and their original target when the first iPhone launched was an overall share of 2% so they seem to be on track.

But how long is the high end phone market going to exist? As phone sales are increasing, the average sale price of phones is decreasing. People are buying cheaper and cheaper phones.

It's also worth noting that basic phones are getting better and better technically. Nokia announced earlier this year that they are going to put the WebKit browser on their Series 40 models, and WebKit is the browsing engine used by both S60's S60 browser and iPhone's Safari browser. Nokia's already started putting the Opera Mini browser on their cheap phones as standard, which many say is even better than WebKit because it doesn't require huge amounts of data.

I think the future of phones will be decided by what the cheapest models do.

[davidmaxwaterma]

Originally Posted by Tzer2

The rat

Well, yes, and no. While what you say is true, I was merely pointing out that some people seem to pick and choose which price to use depending on which makes the iPhone look better.

Originally Posted by Tzer2

Yes, definitely, and their original target when the first iPhone launched was an overall share of 2% so they seem to be on track.

Well, they could have aimed lower and they'd be even more certain of meeting their goals. Not that it isn't an achievement, but it is their own target so quoting it is of little value, IMO.

Originally Posted by Tzer2

But how long is the high end phone market going to exist?....

Right. This is kind of what I was getting at with the whole 'smartphone' definition being deprecated. Not only are the phones getting cheaper, but the features are being pushed down - the same features that the iPhone is only just getting. Oh the other hand, IINM, the iPhone is also getting cheaper, but I haven't really been following it much.

For all the arguments for and against the iphone (and strange how almost any technology/phone article these days mentions the iphone in some way!) for any company to go from 0% to 2% market share in just over a year is impressive. I think its less about the phone and more about the actual mobile platform that apple are creating that should have the other manufacturers worried.

[Tzer2]

for any company to go from 0% to 2% market share in just over a year is impressive.

It is very good, but to some extent they weren't starting from 0% because many people may have bought an iPhone as a replacement for an iPod. If the iPhone takes off we may eventually see the iPod range abandoned completely (and many people do mistakenly call it "the iPod Phone" instead of "iPhone").

Well, they could have aimed lower and they'd be even more certain of meeting their goals. Not that it isn't an achievement, but it is their own target so quoting it is of little value, IMO.

Perhaps they did aim lower and expected a greater share than 2%? :-)

The reason for targets is probably to do with their shareholders, to help shareholders judge how well the company is being run and what direction it's being taken in. Managers have to be fairly honest with their targets in official statements, otherwise they could get into legal difficulties.

Right. This is kind of what I was getting at with the whole 'smartphone' definition being deprecated. Not only are the phones getting cheaper, but the features are being pushed down - the same features that the iPhone is only just getting. Oh the other hand, IINM, the iPhone is also getting cheaper, but I haven't really been following it much.

I think what will happen eventually is that the phone hardware will become unimportant, and the things that will really count will be the services people access. That's why Nokia is doing Ovi, and Apple is doing stuff like MobileMe and continuing to expand iTunes.

What will be VERY interesting is how these services change if they start making more money than the hardware. If/when that happens, it would make no sense at all to restrict the services to just that company's phones. The services would probably open up to cover as many manufacturers' phones as possible, not just their own.

On the price thing, the iPhone 3G isn't really that much cheaper than the original iPhone when you add up the total price over 2 years, it's just the first installment that's lower. The iPhone hardware price hasn't really changed.

"The rat is that you cannot buy an iPhone for $200. That's just the first payment on a contract, but the contract means you are legally obligated to make more payments for 2 years."

Same as any other phone then.

BMW has 1-2% of the global car market. Must be a bad car... I should replace it to some Vauxhall Astra. There are much more Vauxhalls on the roads meaning it's better, right?

Fact is I can get a great S60 smartphones sans contract unlocked for less than £199, but I can't for the Iphone-y.