Smartphone sales up in Q2 '08, BlackBerry leapfrogs Windows Mobile

Yo, Microsoft, step on the gas and get Windows Mobile 7 out the door, would ya? Gartner's profile of global smartphone sales in the second quarter of 2008 reveals that RIM's BlackBerry OS has jumped over Windows Mobile to become the number two platform finding its way into pockets around the world, while perennial powerhouse Symbian carries on comfortably with the number one spot (and it's not UIQ that's doing the heavy lifting there, if you catch our drift). As a percentage of the overall mobile market, smartphones account for the same 11 percent they did a year ago -- but the entire market saw growth, meaning that total smartphone shipments jumped a solid 15.7 percent over the same period. Well-earned kudos to RIM for knocking WinMo off its high horse, but seriously, Microsoft need only look in the mirror if it wants to know exactly how this came to pass.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

[who? @ Sep 14th 2008 9:23PM]

The growth says it all.

[DeoWulf @ Sep 14th 2008 9:26PM]

And if Apple had the Market Share percentage, then the Market Share percentage would say it all. Or if it had the Sales, the Sales would say it all.

Really, all this is saying to me is that you really like Apple.

[who? @ Sep 14th 2008 9:46PM]

The chart doesn't lie. Take from it what you will.

[Murphy Mac @ Sep 14th 2008 9:54PM]

DeoWolf is right. Growth for Apple doesn't mean much and has to be expected, they have a brand new product. They started just over a year ago at ZERO. Of course their growth is a higher percent.

[nohone @ Sep 14th 2008 10:09PM]

No, the chart does not lie:

Microsoft 2Q8 sales - 2Q7 sales
3873622 - 3212222 = 661400

Apple 2Q8 sales - 2Q7 sales
892503 - 270000 = 622503

In other words, Microsoft had more year over year same quarter sales than the "comptetition."

But if you want to compare numbers in the way you did, you could say that Apple's growth dropped by an infinite %, being that in 2Q6 Apple sold 0 iPhones. So 270,000 div 0 = infinite per centage growth from 06 to 07. Infinity - 270% = Infinity negative growth from 07 to 08. See, you can make the numbers look as good or bad as you want if you want to play with them in certian ways.

Your argument is like saying that a company had 2 billion in profits for one year, and 3 billion for the next year. That is a 50% increase in profits. Another company had 1 million in profits in one year, and 2 million the next year. That is a 100% increase in profits. Would you rather have the 1 billion increase, or the 2 million increase?

[CB17 @ Sep 14th 2008 10:33PM]

I said it below and I'll say it again. What you easily forget is that 2Q'07 only accounted for 3 days of iPhone sales and they started to sell out of stores BEFORE 2Q'08 and were COMPLETELY sold out within a month and a half. See below

http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/iphone-sold-out.html
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/ByteOfTheApple/blog/archives/2008/04/gene_munster_so.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/05/12/iphone.sold.out.ap/

[Andrew @ Sep 14th 2008 10:41PM]

If you look at the chart the real story is RIM (BlackBerry) eating share away from Symbian. Symbian sales were flat and market share dropped almost 10%!

Most likely defectors of Symbian went to RIM since WiMo is outdated and Apple isn't up to speed in all international markets yet.

Microsoft is stagnant in market share largely due to their stagnant OS, same reason you see Palm drop share (how old is their OS??)

Yeah Apple is growing but not a real threat yet.

[Cycomachead @ Sep 14th 2008 11:06PM]

CB17 is mostly right. However, those 270,000 iphones were sold in less than 3 days it was in fact only 30 hours!
However, I'd be more interest in total sales for the last year: Q207-Q208.

[DBrim @ Sep 14th 2008 11:33PM]

2Q2007 to 2Q2008? After the end of the first period, apple had a smartphone out for what, a week? I don't particluarly see a growth of that much since then to be particularly impressive.

[farukates @ Sep 15th 2008 1:54AM]

Clamor all you want about RIM doing "the real growth" and Apple's growth only being so much bigger because they started out from almost-nothing, but this is Q2 of 2008, the quarter in which the iPhone was no longer available halfway through, and in the first half that it _was_ available, it was only sold in 6 countries.

Q3 of 2008 is when the iPhone 3G went on sale in 21 countries around the world (and more added along the way), and wherein that same iPhone 3G sold a full million units _in two days_.

Say what you want about RIM doing great, but Apple's growth is actually going to be a whole lot more than that 230% once the Q3'08 and — especially — the Q4'08 figures eventually come in.

[siva @ Sep 15th 2008 2:17AM]

come on guys..today's numerator is tomorrows denominator ..Apple had a low base

[siva @ Sep 15th 2008 2:22AM]

come on guys..today's numerator is tomorrows denominator! ..Apple had a low base and see coming Qs for a trend

[Bender Bending Rodriguez @ Sep 15th 2008 4:35AM]

I have to agree with farukate. In Q2 iPhone sales were nonexistent for most of the quarter, yet they still managed 2.8%.

With the economic slowdown seemingly afecting everyone but Apple and the sale of the iPhone in nearly 50 countries with quarter, a reported 1M units sold in 2 says and a reported 4M units sold in the first 60 days Apple will certainly take the #3 position and quite possibly the #2 position behind Symbian.

[oZ @ Sep 14th 2008 9:30PM]

A toast to all of the people who told me after seeing my E61i that Apple has totally outsold every Symbian handset because they're omgsocool.

Not saying my E61i is better than an iPhone, far from it, but I'm just saying 'suck on it'.

[yoyodude64 @ Sep 14th 2008 10:28PM]

not true. apple basically makes 1 phone in 3 varieties. iphone 8gb, and iphone 16gb black/white
nokia makes way more than 3 phones. so ur E61 has sold less than the iphone, but nokia overall has outsold apple.

[xValentine @ Sep 15th 2008 1:11AM]

Apple has outsold all mobile phone manufacturers on the "Smart-Phone" category.

Nokia, SE, Motorola, and Samsung have tons of mobile phone models on ALL category.

[CT A @ Sep 15th 2008 1:57AM]

xValentine,

The iPhone has lately outsold a lot of phones in the "Smart-Phone" category in the U.S., but the other manufactuers (or about to) haven't released their new phones such as the Xperia, Bold, Thunder, Omnia, and N/E series phones.

No way in hell will Apple pass Nokia or RIM in the "Smart Phone of All Time" category.

[CT A @ Sep 15th 2008 2:03AM]

Actually, the iPhone has only outsold AT&T's RIM Curve but if you combine all the other Curves that are being sold by Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, and other carriers the iPhone loses. Very badly.

So stop misleading people into thinking the iPhone is the shiz; I think many people here have realized that and have grown tired of it.
I know I have.

[Sip @ Sep 15th 2008 4:01AM]

Well that's not entirely true as N95 sold 17 million in 2 years, but iphone 3G will most probally be if not the most sold it will be the fastest sold single smart phone out there.

[nikster @ Sep 15th 2008 4:54PM]

Ahem - 2Q08, the iPhone was not available in most countries. I want to see 3Q08, you know, when the iPhone was sold in 70 countries.

Second, Symbian market share is pretty meaningless. It's a smart phone OS but it's on tons of phones that people never use for anything beyond talking and texting and taking some pix, things that you can do on any phone. Case in point - that 95% mobile browser share Safari has. No one's using the billions of Symbian phones for web browsing, because they suck at it.

I tried to use all the features on my Symbian phones but most of them were so bad I used them only once.

[1234321 @ Sep 14th 2008 9:38PM]

Microsoft really needs to put the effort into WinMo that it does for Windows
unlike some people who judge the OS, I've actually used it and it's very good, there are some things that need to be straightened out but the real problem is getting making people understand it, how to install programs, how easy certain tasks are, etc a lot of people just don't know what it can do, and that's something Apple is good at whether you like their products or not (I actually don't)

Microsoft has tried, stretching it's software only base to consoles (Dreamcast) and lost so they made their own device
MP3 Players (Portable Media Center) and lost so they made their own device
I would rather WinMo be a success then them making their own device (they already bought Danger)

[ThePengwin @ Sep 14th 2008 10:57PM]

Thats very true.
I love windows mobile, but i do see the problems it has. The invention of the iPhone is good because it will spark competition and make windows mobile better.

I have not seen a more stable phone OS than winMo.... maybe its just how i use it, but my HTC TyTn II has froze on me a whole once in the half year Ive owned it :)

[JohnTitor @ Sep 15th 2008 12:04AM]

well I do think overall the iphone is more stable than subpar WinMo phones like the T-Mobile Wing
especially because people don't know that WinMo by default (still) minimizes apps with the X button
where as iPhone can't minimize at all so it's lack of a feature actually makes it more stable
just like how it's lack of flash/java makes the web browser work smoother than the similar opera

one example I like to use to show that people just don't know WinMo that well is the iPhone commercial where the guy finds a chinese food place and calls it with ease, my friend though it was so cool, then I showed him how he could do it on his own phone by installing google maps for WinMo

[thedesolate1 @ Sep 14th 2008 9:42PM]

I wonder how android is going to change the game. Im sure we are going to see new trends just like when apple entered the arena. This can only mean good things for consumers. Next year will be an exciting one to upgrade.

[oZ @ Sep 14th 2008 10:10PM]

I wonder if they are they going to count Android under 'Linux', or will there be a separate market share listing? And if separate, why is everyone else lumped under Linux?

[Marko @ Sep 15th 2008 6:54AM]

I wonder what they count as linux at the moment, anyway!? I am not sure which phone runs linux at the moment!

[thedesolate1 @ Sep 15th 2008 8:26PM]

Those generic OS made by cell phone manufacturers for low to mid end cell phones are most likely linux.

[collegekid13 @ Sep 14th 2008 9:50PM]

ha ha

takes off nelson voice changer

[mrsalty @ Sep 14th 2008 10:03PM]

Apple is the underdog here...I have to root for the underdog. It's nice to see 3 American companies in the top 10

[Ignatius @ Sep 14th 2008 10:58PM]

Apple doesn't need anymore rooting, they already have way too many commercials not explaining anything about their product, just pointing at their competition and saying, "Haha, you suck."

[a ham sandwich @ Sep 14th 2008 10:10PM]

symbian? really? did i miss something huge here?

[Kris @ Sep 14th 2008 10:22PM]

Where have you been? They're on practically every smartphone ever. Been that way for at least 5 years.

[indeed @ Sep 14th 2008 10:23PM]

Ever heard of Nokia?

[a ham sandwich @ Sep 14th 2008 10:33PM]

hm. wow. ill take that as a yes. ::cowers in corner::

[GON @ Sep 14th 2008 10:13PM]

Again we see that after the hype has cleared, Apple isn't doing as well as most would have you believe. Of course many will say that Apple is somewhat an underdog here because they only sell one phone. Well, it's just like what's going on with the Personal Computer market--Apple has CHOSEN to be the ones who make their phones. They have chosen to sell it with a contract on a single carrier. And last but not least, they have chosen not to lisence their OS to other manufacturers. It's Mac vs. Pc all over again. Should they end up losing, they have no one blame but themselves.

[CB17 @ Sep 14th 2008 10:24PM]

What most idiots like yourself fail to take into account is 2Q'07 only accounted for 3 days of iPhone sales and 2Q'08 only accounted for probably at most a month to a month of half of sales before the iPhone was not available in stores anywhere.

[CB17 @ Sep 14th 2008 10:29PM]

Wait I take that back, they started to sell out BEFORE 2Q'08 and were COMPLETELY sold out within a month and a half:
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/03/iphone-sold-out.html
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/ByteOfTheApple/blog/archives/2008/04/gene_munster_so.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/05/12/iphone.sold.out.ap/

[Ben @ Sep 14th 2008 10:19PM]

Well I just bought a Sprint HTC Touch Diamond...

[famm113 @ Sep 15th 2008 10:19AM]

Same here, ordered mine yesterday.

[chefgon_ign @ Sep 14th 2008 10:23PM]

Does this chart take into account that Symbian appears on many phones that can't be considered Smartphones in any way? If they're just comparing total sales numbers across all phones, then this chart isn't a Smartphone chart at all.

[oZ @ Sep 14th 2008 10:40PM]

Uh, like what? The only thing I can think of is /some/ Symbian based handsets in Japan, but everything sold in the US/Europe markets are real smartphones, whether they're running S60 or UIQ (or anything in the past). This doesn't count Nokia S40, which is not Symbian at all.

[YOYO @ Sep 14th 2008 11:05PM]

last i check u cant relay consider the iphone a smart phone considering it doesn't support like 50%
of what all smart phone do


although it does seam to make a nice ipod

[Sip @ Sep 15th 2008 4:04AM]

Heh i do love all these Americans who just can't believe it =D
You can come to Europe and try to find one WM device out there. In Europe and Asia smartphone isn't same as qwerty phone it's about the software and there Symbian is smartphone more than BB or not to even talk about iphone.

[Brad @ Sep 15th 2008 5:54PM]

@sip

Actually I just spent the better part of a month in Germany, France, and Italy. There were quite a few WinMo phones, every carrier had several, and they were well represented in the "smartphone" and "PDA phone" selections at Orange, T-Mobile, and the little private shops. As a developer, I was interested in what people thought of them, so I talked to a few of the store agents. Most said that OS choice wasn't of particular concern to their customers, and one told me that the HTC phones were selling better than anything they had, and that the Touch Diamond specifically was doing great. He said he loved to sell the phone, because people picked it up and immediately figured out how to use it, and that the interface "felt new".

Yeah, I do see the numbers up there that says Symbian dominates but I think that's a far cry from "You can come to Europe and try to find one WM device out there." I found dozens, both in shops and sitting in cafes looking at the devices people carry and especially ones they were typing on.

Maybe YOU just live in a part of Europe that's particularly devoid of WinMo phones, but traveling through Alsace and Bavaria I saw quite a lot, actually. Paris was well-stocked, too.

[Stan @ Sep 14th 2008 10:28PM]

Microsoft won't be able to deliver the same level of user experience that RIM and Apple does until they start to manufacture their own hardware and synchronize their hardware and software development. But as we've already seen from the Zune, even when they do that, they can't leverage their existing monopolies or strengths and end up with a product that's years behind the competition and insignificant in the market.

If things look bad for WinMo, they look much, much worse for the 3rd party hardware manufacturers who depend on Micros~1 for their software. Oops.

[Glen @ Sep 14th 2008 10:43PM]

WM7 will be hitting the market in a few months. Prepare to be quite impressed by WM7 running on the nVidia APX and Tegra hardware!!!

[John @ Sep 15th 2008 12:00AM]

think that Q3 09 is the target, actually. But yes, I'd like a better WinMo too.

[Perspective @ Sep 14th 2008 10:47PM]

GON: You're clueless. 2Q08 ended on June 30. For the last three months of that quarter, Apple was no longer selling the iPhone on its online store as it prepped for the 3G launch, and the phones that did sell (all 900K of them) were sold at $399 and up. As for the 3G, some estimates are an excess of 4 million sold since July 11, which is pretty good when your cheapest phone is $199. In other words, I don't think they're too worried about losing. Thanks for your useless insight though! Cheers.

[Glen @ Sep 14th 2008 10:58PM]

Perspective... if "all 900K of them" sold... why is there only 892K listed?? Me thinks "all 900K of them" didn't sell... or Apple never shipped 900K of them in the first place.

[JTM @ Sep 14th 2008 10:50PM]

Reasons I'm dumping Winmo for good (after about 1 year with a T-mobile Dash):

- No sync of Outlook notes without third party apps (which haven't worked too well for me so far)
- Vista Sync Center unreliable, will have errors and not even tell you
- Sync with Activesync or Mobile Device Center is ridiculously slow, takes about 40x as long as Palm Hotsync