IDC and Gartner award smartphone growth prizes to Apple and Google
By Thomas Ricker 
posted May 19th 2010 4:44AM
posted May 19th 2010 4:44AM
IDC's list of top 5 smartphone device makers (pictured after the break) has Nokia at the number one spot repeating its 39.3% share as it did in Q1 of 2009 while RIM is down slightly from 20.9% in 2009 to a 19.4% market share in 2010. Apple (up from 10.9% to 16.1%) more than doubled its device shipments in the last year as HTC (up from 4.3% to 4.8%) and Motorola (up from 3.4% to 4.2%) all managed to increase their shares on higher volumes.
Regarding smartphone OS market share, Android's global numbers echo its success in the US jumping from a 1.6% market share to 9.6% in just one year. Gartner claims that sales of Android-based phones increased 707% year-on-year to displace Windows Mobile in the top 5 for the first time. Apple's iPhone OS also saw growth from 10.5% in 1Q09 to 15.4% in 1Q10 as both RIM (down from 20.1% to 19.4%) and Symbian (down from 48.8% to 44.3%) dropped. See the OS numbers broken down into a no-nonsense table after the break.
@xbit
Nokia grew by 57%, Apple grew by 132% (2.3x Nokia's growth). Motorola grew by 90% (1.6x Nokia's growth).
That's why they gave it to Apple and Android. It says "smartphone growth prizes to Apple and Google", because they grew the most.
In fact, Nokia only managed to match the industry's growth, meaning that their market share stays the same (unlike the aforementioned two, who gained in market share). It's not a particularly bad result for Nokia, but it shows they may need to get some momentum going.
@xbit Engadget gave it to Apple AND Android.
@HighestRanked2
Dude, you are missing the point again. Why do you insist on making a fool out of yourself every time. Sadomasochism?
@HighestRanked2
No idiot boy, who cares about a percentage growth on units, when total unit growth is bigger for other manufacturers by a wide margin.
The rest of the mistakes are around manufactuers vs operating system. Yours included.
I just don't see RIM growing any longer. I think they have peaked out because the only people that really benefit from RIM are business users that require their specific services. Otherwise, why the hell would you try and use a Blackberry to surf the internet? That is an exercise in absolute frustration. In a few years from now, I see Apple and Android vying for the 2 spot behind Nokia (because for some strange reason, the rest of the world just loves Nokia), especially once the business community realizes they can sync all their important stuff already on these systems.
@Bhima
The world loves them, because they manufacture indestructible devices, that are absolutely top notch at calling & texting. That is what the majority of people use their phones for. Added to that, they will reclaim some marketshare in the very high end, with the absolutely incomparable MeeGo os. Also, as a smartphone OS, S^3 & S^4 are just as capable as Android, but run on cheaper hardware if necessary. Si, in reality, there are quite a few reasons why they will be the largest, even if Samsung is closing the gap in numbers, their smartphone presence is close to zero.
@Bhima
Reason for this is because the media in North America. it's all about Android and Iphone. In some point you are going to believe it too and think whole world is over these two brands.
Good example is HTC that gets much press in here, but actually when asking about HTC from a random guy he knows nothing about HTC.
Android is probally the most USA centric OS there is. Most of the Europe can't buy apps(lets not even talk about Asia here) and Google maps is not free.
Nokia got lots of Europe and Asia specific apps and maps is free in Asia and Europe and apps are available for everybody. Android got lots of weird things that coming from Symbian just don't make much sense. Huge battery usage, very bad MMS support and choppy video player even with example snapdragon for eample.
@Pdexter
Correct, but I am curious to see how 2.2 improves battery life.
funny how all the andriod fanboys think Google is catching up with Apple
@MoonWalkerCTE
They are. So what?
@HighestRanked2
I dont think so. Not because the Iphone is no good, but because there are only so many people willing to pay the Apple premium, especially outside of he US and some EU countries. Its a matter of numbers.
The fact is there are many Android phones to choose from on many different networks. Apple as 1 phone... the iPhone and its only on 1 network AT&T. (just to point out the obvious) Of course Android will eventually beat iPhone in market share because not nearly as many people have access to an iPhone. Android will beat iPhone unless iPhone is available on more than one network. But currently Apple with its 1 Phone on the 1 network is still doing better than all the Androids phones on all the different networks combine!
It's not just that iPhone is on only one network. The problem for Apple (and also applicable to RIM) is that the OS is only secondary to their primary role as handset manufacturers. Apple will never license iPhone OS to other competitors out of fear of cannibalizing their market share. This mindset also ends up limiting their future growth because not everyone will want the iPhone (even if they want the capabilities of the OS).
Chances are that in the next five years, Apple will lose market share even as the number of handsets increase (this is already happening to RIM, even though it has had strong market share growth the past two years). This will be especially true as Android becomes embraced by more manufacturers. What will likely happen is that Android and Symbian will be the dominant OS's followed by RIM (because of its strong corporate base and reputation for top-notch messaging and business capabilities), and WinPhone (because of Microsoft's capabilities, ability to leverage Windows desktop and penetration in the corporate space).
iPhone may have a small share, but it will be left out of top four players. Since it also lacks the corporate base of RIM (which is not unlike Apple's role as the graphic design machine of choice through its Macs), Apple could be looking at being a niche player in the next decade. But nobody really knows.
@Sevenmack
Yep, people have been saying things like that for years, and it's never been true. Apple sells more of a single handset than any other company in the entire world. Think about that.
@Sevenmack
Well its just like their Mac OS. Apple lagged behind for along time because it didnt license their OS and now its making a huge come back. Apples does not have the top of the market in Computer OS but is still giving Windows a run for its money as they continue to climb on top or them. I see the same thing happening in the Smartphone OS market as well. They dont license their software to protect its quality. You can't buy a crappy low end Apple but you surely can buy a piece of crap 200 dollar computer running windows. And so is the same with phones.
@Jack
Jack, come on now. You think about it. If Apple would release multiple phones it would dilute numbers for specific models.
If Android only sold on the droid and the nexus 1 / htc, those phones would sell much more as well.
Your reasoning works better the other way around.
@HighestRanked2
The main reason Iphones succes will level off, is that there is a relatively small number of people who can afford them, which will be an issue when Apple tries to duplicate Iphone's US succes in less affluent markets. Precisely because the tech is proprietary, it will face this issue, where Symbian & Android will not. I am not saying the Iphone sucks, but its price, the ecosystem requirements etc, indicate it will have to level off.
@HighestRanked2
Dude, the Iphone is not a corporate device, it is not secure enough to do that now. It can be cracked in under 20 seconds.
What he is saying is that similarly to how BB's appeal to corporate types, Mac's appeal to people in the creative industry, and he is quite right.
Who cares if the iPhone outsells any one Android device? What matters is OS marketshare, and Android is going after Apple in a major way. More marketshare = more and better apps for me, the consumer. And that's all I care about, not some imaginary war fanboys fight on message boards.
@DaveBrubeck
Well look at the 2 companies on top of the leaderboard! Do they have alot of amazing apps? No not really! Just because a company has a large market share does not mean that the company has alot of Quality applications.
@DaveBrubeck
I love "take five" and I hate how St Germain stole the flow of that track. Off topic.
it shouldn't take too long for android devices to catch up to iphones, but hardly surprising with all those countless android devices made by a vast number of different companies versus a single company with "only" 3 devices of the same kind.
it's like taking candy from a baby.
Surprised to see nokia still at top !!
That too without any new notable releases in the recent past !!
I bet I killer device and they would be right back in the 50% zzone.
HAHA!
All you Symbian and Blackberry fanboys who kept uttering their stupid "marketshare worldwide this, worldwide that"...
Well, there you have it folks: 100% completely indisputable proof that Symbian and Blackberry ARE losing marketshare worldwide.
Suck it fanboys!
@Johnny Rockets
Actually, Genius, since all nokia phones are Symbian, and Nokia's marketshare stayed stable, they did not lose marketshare. They conceded a little marketshare in Smartphones, but added more shipments in that quarter than Android phones sell. You are just trying to interpret the numbers to your favor.
@JFH
From the article:
"and Symbian (down from 48.8% to 44.3%) dropped"
Here's a chart for you:
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/05/gartner-says-worldwide-mobile-phone-sales-grew-17-per-cent-in-first-quarter-2010.jpg
Nice one "genius".
@Johnny Rockets
Yes, so what. I have seen that. That drop is because of other manufacturers using different OS's, and apparently not because Nokia is selling less.
Added to that, Nokia/Symbian added 8 Million smartphone sales, which is about the same as the entire number of shipments for Apple, and much more than its growth in shipments.
Why would you be proud of high growth percentages when they are based on very small shares? Its like China with 10% growth, based on a fraction of western incomes.
So, if you lose market share because the market expands quickly, but your unit growth is still by far the highest, you are actually expanding the lead you have over competitors. Surely, you must agree with that.