iPhone grabs 20%+ smartphone market share in the land of Nokia

Finland is the home of mobile phone giant Nokia, but that's not keeping Apple from eating away at the Finnish market for smartphones.

Apple now has over 20% of the Finnish smartphone market. The numbers were disclosed on Sunday by Finnish carrier TeliaSonera, and published by YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company.

Although the content of the Google-translated YLE post is subject to interpretation, the gist appears to be that worldwide cell phone market leader Nokia (with about a 33% share of the total world market) is losing share more quickly in the smartphone sector. The iPhone is the current culprit, although Android-based systems are having a impact on Nokia's bottom line as well.

Nokia announced last week that revenue expectations will be lower, primarily because the company is not selling as many higher-priced smart phones as anticipated. Nokia still has 89% of the total mobile phone market in Finland, but as the Finnish people move from simpler phones to more functional smartphones, there is concern that the company will suffer from competition from Apple and other non-Finnish manufacturers.

The sales pressure from Apple on Nokia's home turf might explain the run of patent infringement lawsuits from Nokia during the last six months. TeliaSonera Sales Director Juha Koivuniemi believes that Nokia could benefit in the long run from the competition as a growing market for more expensive smartphones should increase margins for the Finnish phone manufacturer.

Thanks to Ilkka for the tip!

[via Macmaa.fi]

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