Since I love making it seem as if The Netherlands is in any way relevant anywhere ever, here’s the most recent market share figures for smartphones, released today, covering the month of August (there’s a graph showing the figures for every month from August 2011 until August 2012). The iPhone has a market share of almost 20% – but Android is ravaging the market, and now holds a market share of 70% (!). Nearly 75% of all Android smartphones sold in The Netherlands are made by Samsung. If you take the entire phone market – including feature phones – the iPhone holds 13% (up from 8% in August 2011) and Android 47% (up from 30% in August 2011). Windows Phone barely manages to hold on at 1%, and the BlackBerry dropped from 13% to 5%. Interestingly enough, in this combined feature/smartphone market, nearly 50% are Samsung phones. This of course doesn’t yet include the iPhone 5, so the next set of figures will most likely show a spike for Apple. Still, if The Netherlands is in any way indicative of the rest of Europe, it’s no surprise Apple tends to focus on US figures during its presentations.
As I added on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/thomholwerda/status/256405190121500676
“70% Android marketshare. Jesus Christ, Windows Phone 8 or Jolla or whatever else better succeed. This is scary as fcuk.”
It really is. Getting flashbacks to Windows here.
I don’t see google trying to strange the market and illegally leverage out Apple and MS with under the table deals, however. Monopolies aren’t intrinsically bad things unless they are abused (which is a very easy and tempting thing to do).
Also add limiting APIs to just your products, and biggest sin forcing entrance into another market by leveraging your dominant position in other.
Well, one major reason for how well Android does: people liked and/or were used to a few ~dominant Google services. Google also tries to exploit that directly with Google+…
Monocultures are bad, however, with universal security problems and stifled innovation.
This is not a Google success it is a Samsung success. There are only two companies making real money in the smart phone market and that’s Apple and Samsung. Google has probably not broken even on Android yet if you factor in the wholly Android related purchase of the loss making Motorola.
I am not sure Google intended to end up in a situation where just one OEM controlled the Android market but that’s where it is heading. It will be interesting to see how Google and Samsung handle their strategic relationship, the bigger Samsung’s share of the Android market gets the more leverage they have in that relationship.
This worth a read
http://techpinions.com/a-message-to-eric-schmidt-and-android-put-up…
That’s the story; Google bought it entirely for self-defence against Apple, Microsoft et al. But Motorola’s losses also massively reduce Google’s tax bill, which must be nice for them.
Samsung is winning because of its hardware capabilities and carrier relations (Samsung flagships are available under really crazy cheap deals in the Netherlands, its no brainer to buy them).
This has nothing to do with Android. If they chose another competitive OS ( say WP8 was released 2 years ago or WEB os was free then) they would rule as well.
Looks like carriers don’t care about dominant players as long as they don’t interfere with their revenue streams. They basically put Samsung on the Nokia place.
Edited 2012-10-12 10:27 UTC
It really isn’t. Whole piece is whining about Google needing profits directly from Android.
Google’s investors are happy with their Android strategy, and that is the only thing that matters.
Yeah, I bet many people didn’t see that with Microsoft and Apple in the 80s and 90s, respectively…
Well, considering that Android does not lock you into Google’s ecosystem, I don’t see this as a bad thing! Dont like Google? Fine, use Amazon. Dont like Amazon either? Sideload your apps directly from the software vendor’s webpage. You have options with Android, unlike Microsoft’s new walled garden that mimics Apple!
I understand what you mean by “windows flashback”, but I actually think that the biggest risk to see that repeated comes from microsoft, not android. They still have a crushing monopoly over the desktop and the strategy with wp8 is clearly to try to use that monopoly to gain in mobile. Do not think for a minute that microsoft would be satisfied with being a “third ecosystem”. I believe that they would rather go under than settle with being third, and before that happens they will have tried every dirty trick possible. If microsoft ever get close to 30% marketshare they will without a doubt start using the old tricks again. “Ain’t done until lotus won’t run” all over again, meaning increasingly difficult to use an iphone or android with a windows pc. PLEASE let wp8 stay below 5% until microsoft’s desktop marketshare is below 25%, then they might do an “IBM” and I could finally start to trust that company.
Smart LiteOS == BADA
Android != BADA
Android share == 47%
EVERYONE mostly focuses on US figures because Comscore is the most consistent at reporting monthly market share data for the US. Gartner and NPD rarely provide insight into individual markets and don’t even report their worldwide data regularly. Nielsen provides fairly regular quarterly updates for the US market. Kantar Worldpanel is trying to break out and trying to provide more transparent reporting but isn’t quite their yet.
Moreover, virtually every manufacturer besides Apple now refuses to even provide quarterly sales data for smartphones.
So… almost everyone uses Comscore US share data because it is the most reliable, widely available, and consistently reported data.
But USA != world is it?
Did someone say it was?
His rather lacking point might be, trends are different outside the US, very different.
If all you have to show are US numbers, and even those are favouring Android now, you should be worried about returning to that niche market you came from.
Several false assumptions here:
I’m concerned about “returning to niche” — I’m not, I’m perfectly content and even prefer a minority platform that has achieved sustainability (and 200+ million users, 700,000+ apps, and the lion’s share of profits certainly marks platform sustainability), and… iOS was never dominant.
The notion that Apple over-emphasizes the US over international data; I cannot find a single iPhone even where they don’t mention their worldwide share of mobile phones (the best, most reliable worldwide stat).
The suggestion that Apple isn’t kicking everyone else’s ass, besides Samsung, just because you can add up the entirety of several dozens of Android manufacturers making cheap crap that isn’t even being truly used as smartphones.
Etc.
Edited 2012-10-12 16:31 UTC
It doesnt surprise me iphone and samsung have both had a bounce. They have both recently had launches of new products.
Blackberry… well, its still the same thing as always so what you going to upgrade TO
Windows Phone, noone is buying them Knowing the next generation is out in a month (im one of this group)
@Thom, I think the more important numbers tend to be the installed base. Do you have these numbers from the same source?
I live in The Netherlands too and I see mostly iPhones (adults) and BlackBerries (kids).
But no doubt about Windows Phone, they are a very rare occasion.
Goes to show that what you see rarely matches up with reality. I’d think iPhones were more popular too, judging by what I see. i’m guessing people just whip ‘m out more often.
next time you visit a starbucks just take a look around
everyone keeps his phone in his pocket while drinking a coffee
but the apple-guys place it on the table
LMAO
I can’t believe the Samsung guys are so embarrassed by their phones 🙂
I agree, most Apple users are attention whores. They buy the product they think looks cool, so they can flaunt it and pretend they are aswell
As an actress said to a bishop.
I’m mostly surprised kids love BlackBerries. Well, I know it’s for the BBM, but apart from that there isn’t much fun stuff you can do with a BlackBerry.
Work related I see most people either getting rid or wanting to get rid of their BlackBerries.
They aren’t that bad, but the app selection is small and the quality is mostly poor.
Regarding the spotting of iPhones I guess iPhone users wanted an iPhone and do things with it, Android users mostly just got a new phone for a nice price and it needed to have a web browser. They’re not doing much with it. This would also explain why iOS devices cause so much more web traffic, they are used more.
We now have 5 people at work with an Android, only one is a power user and one also has an iPhone which he prefers. The other three are “dumb” users who were forced to get a smart phone.
Forced?!?!?! Did someone threaten them or their family?
Also, since you seem to be an Apple fanboy you see what you want to see. I see a lot of iPhones for sure, but also a lot of SGS2 and SGS3. Noticing a WP device is like a novelty…
Yes, first they were forced to start using a BlackBerry as they are semi-important persons and not always behind their desk and then they had to pick another phone when we decided to get rid of the BlackBerries.
I make it a kind of hobby to spot ‘n’ identify technology people use. That I see more iPhones has nothing to do with me being Apple minded. I also see Android phone, but less. Apple sells many laptops, but these I spot much less. Acer and HP are the ones I spot most.
A couple of times I helped people with their Android phones. Today I sat for some time in a car trying to pair it to a Sony Xperia S. It didn’t work, but don’t get upset nor did my iPhone or Lumia. Turns out it’s a crap Volkswagen from 2008. It does work with Nokia S40 phones.
It’s the keyboard.
I have a friend with a crappy, low-sales Samsung (so no CyanogenMod or other 3rd party support) with a keyboard, and she clings to it with fiery passion (as an actress etc.).
I’d suspect older people would prefer physical keyboards and kids with small and nimble fingers and a more adaptive brain would manage a virtual keyboard easier.
But I also guess when some have a BlackBerry the rest wants one too not to be left out of the BBM chats.
Let’s see what the next generation of BlackBerries brings us.
I’d guess it might as well be about greater adaptability of kids …to touch-typing, on physical keyboards (not only qwerty, also the usual alphanumeric – I’ve seen young people thumb-typing “blind” on those, one-handed). Conversely, for older people it might not matter that much – because they hunt-and-peck anyway.
But yeah, network effects… here it’s the obnoxious GG ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadu-Gadu – and PL version of that article has a ridiculous claim about GG first to be used in space, on the ISS – seemingly unremovable because it has a citation to right-leaning newspaper, which basically just reprinted PR claims of the developer …but those claims have issues: 1) at the time, ISS didn’t have a direct IP access, only a form of email and ftp 2) ~IM aspect of pocket radio was certainly used not only on ISS, but on Mir; plus, http://www.kyon.pl/img/15962,gadu-gadu,Quake,comparison,pl,.html & http://www.kyon.pl/img/17590,comparison,gtalk,Windows_Live_Messenge… – it “beats” Live Messenger by now).
GG first got some popularity by offering ~free SMS to PL networks, then – by introducing IM capability – it managed to grab the nascent market from ICQ (some ill-conceived local “patriotism” probably also played a role) …and so we’re stuck with it, one uses it because everybody else do. Whole country turned into an IM ghetto, even Skype didn’t manage to break it – now people simply run both.
GG also on mobile – oh, and BBM doesn’t exist (a place only a bit over 1000 km away)
Now, those effects also mean that Blackberry could have been reasonable, by introducing paid BBM for other, new platforms – they would probably be the mobile messenger by now. But it’s probably too late.
PS. OTOH, kids love prepaid …and I don’t think BB fits that very much?
Edited 2012-10-14 15:12 UTC
A Blackberry is probably the best device out there for texting and emails. That’s mainly what kids do.
Probably not the best by now – and it’s not even required, network effects are enough.
At my place it’s, sure, texting and IM with kids …but not BBM, Blackberry never took hold ( http://www.osnews.com/permalink?538579 )
Is it just me or are you confusing 2 things ?
– sales numbers
– marketshare
Sales just says what is currently being sold the most, it doesn’t say anything about what people actually already have/use.
So if you see a lot of people with iPhones (if what you see is a good representation at all) that just means a lot of iPhones were sold in the past.
It could still mean Apple isn’t selling as many right now (obviously the latest phone from Apple probably has an impact on that too).
Marketshare is a very ambiguous term. It can mean sales, or web site visits, or app downloads or whatever.
What you call marketshare would more precisely be described as “installed base”.
Yes, sorry that is what I meant.
Thanks.
English isn’t my first language, thus I make mistakes at times.
Edited 2012-10-11 19:28 UTC
Aside the already mentioned fact that the userbase and the units currently sold are different things, don’t forget that statistics don’t reflect reality either. First off, even when the statistics are honest, it’s hard to get a meaningful sample and get the right data. Second, the statistics is not provided for free by a benevolent NGO, it’s produced and published for money by a corporation with an agenda.
There’s definitely a beneficial side-effect in having a touchscreen based gadget. You have to take it out every time you need to do something, and voila, instant advertising.
I personally prefer Cowon players, for example, because I can control it without taking it out. And thus, nobody knows I use a Cowon, and assume it’s an iPod.
Also keep in mind that this is for August, just a couple of months before the iPhone 5 enters the market and the price is dumped for the other phones. Apple’s stuff is highly seasonal, to a point where fanbois claimed Apple had caught up with Android the months following the launch of the 4S.
I wonder if this relates to a strange phenomena reported many times and from many sources which is that iOS users actually use their phones for platform functions (web, email, photography, social networking etc) far more than Android users. For example Chikita has just conducted a user agent analysis on millions of mobile ad impressions, spanning a 7-day time frame from October 3rd through October 9th, 2012. Looking solely at impressions coming from the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S III, they were able to observe the difference in Web traffic volume between the two devices, 18 days since the public release of the iPhone 5 and four months after the SIII release in the US. The newest Apple device has already overtaken the Galaxy S III in terms of Web traffic volume.
http://insights.chitika.com/2012/iphone-5-galaxy-s-iii-study/
This report is matched by many others all pointing to the same conclusion, people are doing much less stuff with their Android phones than with their iPhones.
I don’t why this is happening but the scale of the mismatch between market share and usage is so large and so well confirmed through research that it cries out for explanation.
My favoured explanation will probably not sit well with some people. I think most people don’t buy their Android phones because they are looking for the best smart phone platform. They buy them because that is what is being punted by the carriers or retailers, and because the want a modern looking phone with a touch screen but they don’t really want to use them for much more than phoning and texting. But I could be wrong because there is little data about what drives actual usage patterns on the two platforms.
I would love to hear any other ideas people have as to why Android users just don’t seem to use so many platform functions as much. It’s certainly a bit puzzling.
In The Netherlands, where the iPhone holds 20% and Android 70%, this is not the case.
http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_browser-NL-monthly-201208-201209
They’re not clear about whether or not the iPad is a mobile device – but I’m guessing it is, which would explain the – still – relatively high iOS share.
There’s one problem with this: not all Android browsers show the device name in the UA-string (Opera & Firefox don’t, for example), so the data for SGS3 might be understated.
I live in the Netherlands too and I agree. But Blackberry and WinP owners are either not happy with the phone or not that interested. Android owners are satisfied and iPhone owners defend their choice to the death.
… for bringing choice to consumers!
The choice between iOS and Android
And thank you Samsung for bringing choice to consumers as well, the choice between Apple and Samsung.
Do not forgot about Jolly
they are choice too or will be in near feature …
for Chinese people only
They started handset business in USA* (as Carrier exclusive** not the less!!!), and succeed.
Jokes aside.
Apple is still strongest in the USA.
* USA is almost backwater when comes to handsets.
** They are only good when you make special flavor of you phone as CE, not your entire business.
They were carrier exclusive as long as the iPhone was the most desirable of smartphones. That way, together with the carrier Apple could milk consumers more. (The carrier could charge a higher monthly fee, and subsidize the phone more)
Now that Apple is out-innovated by Android, they can no longer afford carrier exclusivity.
The Netherlands representing Europe is like Ohio representing the US.
or the US representing the global world market.
really, if you have info on other EU states, please share, i’m sure others would be interested.
for that matter, if there is US state-specific sales info that diverged signifigantly, that would also be interesting.
Yes.
It wouldn’t be that interesting at all considering everything from population, to local economy, to subsidies, to bla bla bla can vary greatly state-to-state.. They can vary greatly from county-to-county and city-to-city. Trends in one area can easily look completely different than trends in another. I guess you think the same isn’t true for Europe.
no that’s exactly the point why i was interested in that, because such variances are very probably to exist.
Or like the heading representing the whole text.
Yeah, kinda – but also, Europe overall is likely (and usually is) to be further “away” from the US than the NL (with the notable exceptions in the areas of car usage, public transport, and such).
So looking at US stats (what web media often quote in ~smartphones), then at NL, it’s quite safe to assume that the US->NL difference goes further.
There can be and are several successful vendors out there in the mobile market. This does not have to be a zero sum game as whats his name once said.
I am willing to bet without knowing, that that 13% stake Apple has represents more revenue than the other other Android vendors combined in your home country.