Technology researchers from
Gartner have come up with their annual report on mobile phone sales,
2009 edition. And it's an interesting read.
In short, 2009 phones sales have remained flat despite the economic
imbalances but there are some pretty interesting market share shifts.
Unless you've lived in a cave for the past twelve months, you won't
be surprised to learn that Motorola and Sony Ericsson took the biggest
hits this year, while Apple, Samsung, LG and RIM had one hell of a year.
Table 1
Worldwide Mobile Handset Sales to End Users in 2009 (thousands of units)
Company
|
2009 Sales | 2009 Market
Share (%) |
2008 Sales
|
2008 Market
share (%)
|
Nokia
|
440,881.6
|
36.4
|
472,314.9
|
38.6
|
Samsung
|
235,772.0
|
19.5
|
199,324.3
|
16.3
|
LG
|
122,055.3
|
10.1
|
102,789.1
|
8.4
|
Motorola
|
58,475.2
|
4.8
|
106,522.4
|
8.7
|
Sony Ericsson
|
54,873.4
|
4.5
|
93,106.1
|
7.6
|
Others
|
299,179.2
|
24.7
|
248,196.1
|
20.3
|
Total
|
1,211,236.6
|
100.0
|
1,222,252.9
|
100.0
|
Source: Gartner (February 2010)
Nokia also took a dive, dropping two percent of total market share
(and 5.5 percent of smartphone market) but their market leadership
remains pretty safe. They shipped 440 million handsets - a volume that
almost totals that of all other companies from the Top Five (470
million). Things are even more convincing in smartphone terms where
Symbian accounts to 47 percent of all sales globally.
However Apple have managed to double their market share, shipping 25
million iPhones, compared to 11 million in the previous year. RIM also
noted a healthy 48 percent increase pushing the number of sold handsets
to 34 million.
Table 2
Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 2009 (thousands of units)
Company
|
2009 Units
|
2009 Market
Share (%)
|
2008 Units
|
2008
Market
Share (%)
|
Symbian
|
80,878.6
|
46.9
|
72,933.5
|
52.4
|
Research In Motion
|
34,346.6
|
19.9
|
23,149.0
|
16.6
|
iPhone OS
|
24,889.8
|
14.4
|
11,417.5
|
8.2
|
Microsoft Windows Mobile
|
15,027.6
|
8.7
|
16,498.1
|
11.8
|
Linux
|
8,126.5
|
4.7
|
10,622.4
|
7.6
|
Android
|
6,798.4
|
3.9
|
640.5
|
0.5
|
WebOS
|
1,193.2
|
0.7
|
NA
|
NA
|
Other OSs
|
1,112.4
|
0.6
|
4,026.9
|
2.9
|
Total |
172,373.1 |
100.0
|
139,287.9
|
100.0
|
Source: Gartner (February 2010)
When it comes to smartphone platforms, the open-source Android has
the biggest market share growth shipping on nearly 6.8 million devices
in 2009. That's more than 10 times better than the 0.6 million in 2008.
Another year like that and they might just take the second spot (or
even first if Symbian doesn't up its game urgently).
An interesting trend is that the iPhone OS managed to reach a wider
user base in 2009 than all the various versions and reincarnations of
Windows Mobile. Now that should tell you something Microsoft, you
better get your back into Windows Phone 7. We're waiting... |
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