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Windows Phone crossing double digit market share in parts of Europe
Kantar's numbers have always been relatively kind to Windows Phone. Well, at least as kind as any numbers can be, we suppose. That trend continues with the recent report that Microsoft's smartphone platform has crossed the double digit mark in market share in parts of Europe. Specifically, it has hit 10.8 percent in France and 12 percent in Great Britain. Things are not quite as rosy across the rest of the continent, but Windows Phone does own a cumulative 9.2 percent of the field in the "big five European markets": Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Of course, that's still a distant third to iOS and Android, the latter of which owns a staggering 70.1 percent of the market, according to Kantar. BlackBerry, on the other hand, is continuing its stunning free fall, dropping to just 2.4 percent in those same five markets, just ahead of the nebulous "other." There haven't been too many other exciting changes in the smartphone and carrier landscape over the last three months. But, if you want to take a gander at some more numbers, you'll find them at the source link.
Why smartphone marketshare is overrated... and not Apple's top priority
If you listen to the pundits, Apple really messed up by not making the iPhone 5c more affordable. The underlying assumption by those so quick to second guess Apple's iPhone 5c strategy is that Apple is losing the marketshare war with Android. Consequently, the reasoning goes, Apple needs to churn out some cheap devices (and quick!), flood the market and gain some of those elusive marketshare points back. Apple, however, doesn't let marketshare be the overarching metric that guides its business strategy. Indeed, it's somewhat bewildering that analysts who get paid to make sense of the tech industry so often lose sight of the fact that marketshare in and of itself is not the be all and end all. In truth, the type of users you have can sometimes be more important than how many users you have. Indeed, this dynamic can be seen across many industries. This notion is why television shows with a core audience of 18-34 year old males, for example, can often command higher advertising rates than programs that otherwise have higher ratings. As a specific example, Friends during its heyday was able to command three times as much for ad-time than Murder She Wrote because the latter's viewership skewed much older. So what's the parallel? Apple doesn't view all users as created equal, a point Tim Cook touched on in his recent Bloomberg Businessweek interview, which was published in its entirety this weekend. When asked about the rise in $100 and $150 phones from Chinese and Indian manufacturers, Cook explained that Apple isn't interested in a race to the bottom while explaining that unit marketshare doesn't keep him up at night. I think it's important that we grow, but I don't measure our success in unit market share. So if there are a lot of $69 tablets sold that you're just pounding on to get something to work and get some responsiveness, and it's thick and fat and just a terrible experience, I don't really weigh that unit of share like I do a different unit of share. I don't weigh them to be equivalent. So I think in most markets in consumer electronics, there's always a large junk part of the market. We're not in the junk business. We don't want to make something for that. ... I think, fortunately, these markets we're in-the smartphone market, the tablet market-these are huge markets, and yes, the market might bifurcate. It has to some degree, as you just pointed out. There's a segment of the market that really wants a product that does a lot for them. And I want to compete like crazy for those customers and really convince those customers that the iPhone is the best experience for them. The tablet market is the same case. It sort of bifurcates. You've got the players down here that would say-you know, your kid is tugging at you saying, "Daddy, I got to have a tablet." And you just want to shut them up and buy something cheap. That's not a market I'm crazy about. I'd like to convince you that the iPad is a better experience and that your kid's going to learn a lot from using it. And the experience they're going to have talking to their grandmother across FaceTime is unbelievable, and it's going to change your life by doing that. I'm not trying to say "Pick me" to shut up your kid. So on this market, the market that cares about those things, I want us to just over-index like crazy on those. I want us to convince everyone to buy like that. I'm not going to lose sleep over that other market, because it's just not who we are. So while analysts obsess themselves over metrics like marketshare, Apple isn't terribly concerned with catering to users who aren't interested in a premium smartphone experience. And because Apple doesn't blindly go after the low end of the market, dangling cheap phones in front of customers who are just looking for something cheap that gets the job done, the iPhone is able to garner more customer loyalty than its Android counterparts. This past August, the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) collected a year's worth of smartphone loyalty information and found that 81% of iPhone users stuck with the iPhone when purchasing a new device, compared to 68% of Android users who stuck with Android. More telling is that over 40% of iPhone buyers came over from Android while approximately 5% of Android users come over from the iPhone camp. Put differently, once a user gets an iPhone they are more likely to stay within the iOS ecosystem than an Android user is to stay within the Android ecosystem. To that end, there is an undervalued benefit in focusing on the high end of the market where folks are willing to pay a little bit more in order to get a little bit more. What happened to both RIM and Nokia over the past few years should underscore how fickle marketshare is. RIM, for example, was able to appear healthier than it really was because it relied on "buy 1 get 1 free" programs as a means to flood the market with their devices. Their ability to keep their seemingly high marketshare afloat was nothing more than an illusion that eventually came crashing down. The iPhone, meanwhile, isn't close to rivaling Android when it comes to marketshare, but is second to none when you look at other metrics such as profitability, customer loyalty, and customer satisfaction. Marketshare of course isn't wholly irrelevant, but if it's the only metric analysts are focusing on, they're clearly missing the big picture.
iPad market share struggles in China
Research firm IDC reports that iPad shipments to China fell sharply during the second quarter of 2013, dropping from over 50 percent of the country's tablet market to only 28 percent. The iPad is still the top tablet in China, with Samsung grabbing an 11 percent share and Lenovo an 8 percent piece of the pie. Analyst Dickie Chang noted that there was strong demand for low-priced Android tablets from "white box vendors" -- that is, very generic devices from relatively unknown manufacturers. Chang said that "...consumers are becoming more familiar with the tablet product. They can use Android tablets from Samsung, Lenovo or others from small white box vendor guys because the price is cheap." How cheap? An Android tablet from Chinese manufacturer Onda sells for as little as 699 yuan (US$113) equipped with a quad-core processor, 8-inch screen and a 5-megapixel camera. A total of 46 percent of all tablet shipments came from vendors that IDC listed as "others" -- that means that individually, they each had a market share of less than 1 percent. Apple can take some solace in the fact that Microsoft's share of the Chinese tablet market is less than 1 percent, with only 37,000 units shipped. Confusingly, Chang also noted that the drop in iPad units shipped could just be Apple reducing inventories of the iPad and iPad mini in preparation for the introduction of new models. It appears that only time will tell if Chinese consumers are really jumping away from the iPad, or just waiting for the latest and greatest models from Cupertino.
Gartner: Android gained five percent at the expense of iOS in Q2, Samsung jumped 9 percent
As smartphone sales stayed well ahead of feature phones with 225 million sold in Q2 2013, Android was by far the greatest beneficiary, according to stat analyst Gartner. That OS lept from a 74.4 percent share in Q1 2013 to 79 percent, while iOS declined sharply from 18.2 to 14.2 percent. Samsung helped that along by moving 6.4 million more smartphones this quarter than last, while Apple sold 6.6 million less over Q1 2013. Of course, Samsung has a wide range of inexpensive devices that still fall into the "smart" category, which may explain why Apple is rumored to be launching a more budget-oriented iPhone. Meanwhile, there's further evidence of a BlackBerry decline (as if more were needed), as Gartner's stats now have Microsoft's Windows Phone well ahead. Last quarter, BlackBerry's OS share was larger by a hair, but Redmond's OSes gained significantly in Q2 with a 3.3 percent share compared to 2.7 percent for Waterloo. Another notable stat had Lenovo elbowing Huawei and ZTE down the chart for a fourth place finish in smartphone sales -- quite a feat, considering that unlike its rivals, Lenovo sells almost all its handsets in China.
IDC report: iPhone lost marketshare to Android in Q2 2013
According to a research report published by IDC today, Apple's share of the worldwide smartphone market took a slight dip during the second quarter of 2013. IDC's press release reads in part: "The iOS decline in the second quarter aligns with the cyclicality of iPhone," says Ramon Llamas, Research Manager with IDC's Mobile Phone team. "Without a new product launch since the debut of the iPhone 5 nearly a year ago, Apple's market share was vulnerable to product launches from the competition. But with a new iPhone and revamped iOS coming out later this year, Apple is well-positioned to re-capture market share. Specifically, IDC found that Apple's share of the worldwide smartphone market during Q2 2013 checked in at 13.2 percent, representing a slight decline from the 16.6 percent share Apple registered during the same quarter a year ago. While Apple's share of the smartphone market declined, bear in mind that Apple's year-over-year iPhone sales still experienced a 20 percent gain. Indeed, analysts were pleasantly surprised when Apple last quarter posted much better than anticipated iPhone sales. As for Android, the yin to Apple's yang in the smartphone market, it saw its share of the smartphone market rise from 69.1 percent during Q2 2012 to 79.3 percent during Q2 2013. Concurrently, Windows Phone continued its struggle to gain any traction in the marketplace. While its year-over-year sales volume increased by an impressive 77.6 percent, it still accounted for a paltry 3.7 percent share of the worldwide smartphone market. Not too surprisingly, BlackBerry devices also saw a drop in marketshare, dropping from 4.9 percent down to 2.9 percent year over year. Within the Android camp, Samsung continues to lead the way. Android-based handsets from Samsung accounted for the majority of Android handsets sold during the second quarter of 2013.
iPad sales slip as tablet market surges
The tablet market has exploded in the last year, with nearly 60 percent growth since the same quarter in 2012. This is according to new information published by the market research firm IDC on Monday. At the top of the market is Apple, thanks to strong sales of the iPad. However, while Apple is still No. 1 on the charts, their victory comes with a coda that makes it a little bittersweet. Although Apple was the top vendor with 14.6 million iPads shipped and a 32.4 percent market share, they were the only company out of the top five vendors to have their market share drop since 2012. That year Apple enjoyed a staggering 60.3 percent market share. In 2013 that number had shrunk to a 32.4 percent market share, a -14.1 percent growth rate since the pervious year. Meanwhile their competition saw growth ranging from 277 percent for Samsung to 313.9 percent for Lenovo and 247.9 percent for Acer. But here is where looking at the full number chart, linked here and included above, is important. Each of the competitors who made a sudden surprising leap in market share this year had almost no market share the previous year. For a long time, Apple was the only serious game in town when it came to tablets for professionals. In the last year, the market has opened up with better models from Apple's competition, and often at a lower price point than the premium-priced iPad. Meanwhile Apple didn't have a new iPad for sale this year, unlike in 2012 when the third- and fourth-generation iPads and iPad mini hit the stores. Without new product driving sales, Apple saw their overall growth slow. Still, even with slowed growth, the company was able to lead the market in shipped units by more than 6 million units compared to their nearest competitor.
Strategy Analytics: Android claimed nearly 80 percent of Q2 smartphone share
Multiple analyst groups recently gave us a look at second quarter smartphone market share by the manufacturer. Today, Strategy Analytics is breaking down that market share by platform -- and it's clear that Google is still on a roll. Android jumped 10 points year-over-year to reach almost 80 percent of the world smartphone market during the spring quarter, hitting a record high. Some of this rise came at the expense of Apple, which dipped three points, but most of the casualties were in the "others" category led by BlackBerry and Nokia's soon-to-vanish Symbian. Microsoft can claim a small victory, though. Windows Phone climbed slightly to 3.9 percent of the market in Q2, giving it a level of influence not seen in three years. While we're not necessarily looking at the new status quo for the smartphone industry, it's clear that the days of neck and neck competition are behind us.
Smartphones continue to outsell feature phones but Apple share slips to three-year low
A new report from the analysts at IDC on the mobile market in Q2 2013 shows smartphones are continuing to outsell standard feature phones by a wide margin. Smartphones now account for 59 percent of mobile phones shipped. 230 million units were shipped in Q2 2013, up 47 percent from Q2 2012 when 156.5 million units were sold. It's the largest single quarter ever for shipments in the mobile market. The biggest winner was Samsung, who saw 56 percent growth since Q2 2012 and shipped 76 million smartphones in Q2 2013. Thanks in part to strong demand for the Galaxy S4 model, Samsung (which makes scores of different phone models, compared to Apple's lean lineup of three phones in two colors) ended up with 33 percent of marketshare for Q2. Apple's scorecard wasn't quite as strong. While shipments of the iPhone increased from 26 million to 31.2 million, a 20 percent growth, their growth was less than half of the industry average of 47 percent. Apple's global smartphone marketshare is currently at 14 percent. That's its lowest level since the second quarter of 2010. Apple's latest phone model, the iPhone 5, was released in September of 2012.
Apple hits three-year low in smartphone marketshare, shipment figures reveal
Fresh reports on the state of the cellphone market during Q2 2013 have blown through the barn door, and industry analysts are flaunting some fairly impressive figures. Smartphones have outsold their less-intelligent brethren for the second quarter in a row, and Strategy Analytics says shipments hit a record-breaking 237.9 million. According to IDC, Samsung managed to ship a total of 72.4 million smartphones during Q2 -- a 43.9% boost year-over-year -- with help of the Galaxy S 4 and price cuts to the GS3. To put that in perspective, that's more than double the 31.2 million iPhones Apple managed to ship, and Strategy Analytics claims this marks a three-year low in Cook and Co.'s marketshare. While LG and ZTE each occupy third and fifth place, respectively, Lenovo pushed Huawei out of the number four slot by sending out 11.3 million handsets. If you're craving for more stats, hit the break for a trio of press releases.
iPhone sales in India may not be as poor as initially reported
The Times of India yesterday, citing research data from IDC, reported that iPhone sales in India have slowed down dramatically over the past few months. The research data indicated that Apple's marketshare in the country recently dropped from 4.7 percent down to 2.1 percent amidst slumping sales. As for unit sales, the data relayed that while Apple sold 230,000 iPhones during the last quarter of 2012, the company only sold 120,000 iPhones during the first quarter of 2013. So should Apple investors be worried? Has the iPhone lost its luster, perhaps rivaled by competing products from Samsung and pushed to the side to make room for more affordable feature phones? Not exactly. Electronista is reporting that IDC's data may not be entirely accurate and is at odds with data from other market research firms. The data, reported in the Economic Times, claims the company sold only 120,000 iPhones between January and March 2013 -- however IDC's own estimate of Apple's marketshare in the country suggests that in fact it sold nearly double that number, around 210,000 iPhones (using total handset sales figures from Strategy Analytics). A report from Credit Suisse in May said Apple was selling nearly 400,000 iPhones per month during the same period. What's more, Electronista points out that with Apple significantly expanding the number of authorized resellers in the country -- from 70 to over 200 -- it's hard to fathom that iPhone sales would drop so precipitously. Indeed, all of the previous reports coming out of India suggested that Apple's aggressive marketing campaign in the country was paying off dividends. Apple is slated to announce its earnings from the quarter gone by on July 23, so we should have a better grasp on how iPhone sales are doing soon enough. While Apple may not release specific numbers for iPhone sales in India, one can only assume that an analyst will bring it up during Apple's always informative earnings conference call.
Gartner and IDC: PC shipments dropped about 11 percent in Q2
If you were looking for a bounce-back in the PC market after a sobering first quarter... well, keep looking. Both Gartner and IDC estimate that shipments fell about 11 percent year-over-year in the second quarter. The two analyst groups blame the decline on sluggish uptake in a few regions, most notably China and Europe, as well as a market that favors tablets over low-end computers. It's easy to agree after seeing the numbers. Taiwanese PC makers like Acer and ASUS faced steep yearly declines as they switched their attention toward tablets and Ultrabooks, while even top-seated Lenovo took a small bruising. There's a silver lining to this cloud, however. Dell, HP and Lenovo all fared much better in the US than they have in recent quarters. Gartner and IDC attribute the resurgence to the corporate world, where the end of Windows XP support in 2014 may be pushing some upgrades to PCs running at least Windows 7. It's not quite the broader recovery that vendors are hoping for, but it may have to suffice when any help from Windows 8.1 and OS X Mavericks is months away.
Kantar: Windows Phone still growing in the US, now has 5.6 percent share
Now that it's collecting cash from Nokia for WP8, Microsoft might want to considering buying it flowers, as the mobile OS has picked up market share considerably over last quarter in the US -- apparently at the expense of Apple's iOS. According to numbers from Kantar (which only tracked phone, not tablet OS's), WP jumped from 4.1 percent the previous quarter to 5.6 percent in Q2 2013, a period in which Nokia released the Lumia 620 and began shipping its Lumia 820 and 920 in volume. BlackBerry held its tiny share of 0.7 percent stateside over Q1 despite the availability of the Z10, while Android saw a half-point bump to 51.7 percent -- though if Samsung and HTC's lofty sales estimates for the GS 4 and One hold, that might change considerably next time. Meanwhile, Apple fell from a 43.5 percent share last quarter to 41.4 percent, perhaps because its flagship iPhone 5 is due for a refresh -- something we might see soon.
Internet Trends report highlights iPad's incredible success, room for smartphone growth and more
Earlier this week, Mary Meeker unveiled her Internet Trends report and, per usual, there's a lot of interesting information to digest. The deck is 117 slides deep, but the following slides in particular are worth highlighting. For as much as people like to talk about the iPhone having reached a saturation point, the following graph underscores how much more room for smartphone growth remains. But if you want to talk about growth, let's take a gander at this chart comparing the growth of the iPad against the iPhone. Suffice to say, it's not even close. Of course, the comparison isn't completely fair given that the iPhone was initially available only to AT&T subscribers and, of course, required a two-year contract. The iPad, meanwhile, had a relatively quick worldwide rollout and could be purchased with no strings attached. Nevertheless, the chart below highlights just how quickly Apple was able to enter the tablet market and resurrect a product space that had previously been, for all practical purposes, non-existent. It's no secret that the smartphone war continues to be a two-horse race between Apple and Samsung. Together, the companies account for 51 percent of the entire global smartphone market. And when it comes to actual profits, Apple and Samsung together almost have a 100 percent share. What's truly fascinating about the chart below, I think, is that it really demonstrates just how quickly the technological landscape can shift. In 2010, for instance, Samsung had a measly 4 percent of the global smartphone market. Less than three years later, the Korean-based tech giant enjoys a 29 percent share. And speaking of how quickly the tech landscape is prone to change, the following chart is rather telling. Again, Mary Meeker's entire slide presentation is chock full of information and well worth taking a look at. From the explosion of mobile video sharing to charting what consumers are actually doing on their smartphones, the presentation touches on a variety of meaty topics.
Ubuntu team closes its original 'bug:' Microsoft's majority of PC market share
When Ubuntu Linux was still in early development back in August 2004, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth filed a tongue-in-cheek first bug: that Microsoft had a majority of PC market share. Little did he realize that he'd have an excuse to cross that bug off the list in 2013. Since computing now includes phones and tablets, he argues, that leaves the traditional PC (and therefore Windows) in the minority versus Android, iOS and other platforms. Whether or not you agree with that market interpretation, Shuttleworth is ready to move on -- he feels it's better to polish Canonical's own cloud, desktop and mobile efforts than to target someone else. It's undoubtedly easy for Shuttleworth to make peace when the battle is supposed to be over, but we can't object to such a healthy attitude.
Google Play app revenue up, but still a distant second to Apple App Store
A new report from Distimo, a company that provides mobile app store analytics for developers, shows that revenue for the Android-based Google Play store is up. In November 2012, revenue from Google Play made up only 19 percent of combined total revenue between the Apple App Store and Google Play. However by this past April 2013 Google Play's share had increased by eight percentage points, now making up 27 percent of the combined total revenue of the two stores. Apple is still leading the market with 73 percent of the combined total revenue. The report also delved into whether there is any truth to the conventional wisdom that app developers were finding it hard to monetize apps in the Google Play store. Google Play features a large number of successful free apps, but trails behind Apple in the number of successful paid apps. However, the growth of "freemium" gaming, where a free game is augmented with in-game purchases, combined with strong overseas sales for titles like Final Fantasy III is helping the store catch up. There are a number of contributing factors to the increased growth of Google Play's store, but the largest are the growing European, Japanese and South Korean markets. According to Distimo these markets have been vital to Google Play's recent growth. While not mentioned in the Distimo analysis, this could be due to the lower cost of some Android hardware, making smartphones more affordable in countries with large populations of differing economic status levels. While Google Play is starting to slowly catch up, the Apple App Store is still leading the market by a wide margin. As of April 2013, the United States was still the largest market when considering the total combined revenue of both stores. The daily revenue for the top 200 grossing apps in Google Play was US$1.1 million, while the top 200 apps in the Apple Store were bringing in $5.1 million a day. The Apple App Store revenues include both iPhone and iPad apps, which given the market share enjoyed by the iPad might explain some of Apple's lead over Google Play. You can find Distimo's full analysis here.
Tim Cook on Android market share: winning has never been about having the most (update: video)
Apple's head honcho Tim Cook is chatting up Android's growth explosion, and it turns out he's not flustered. "Do I look at that? Of course, I don't have my head stuck in the sand," said Cook." But for us, winning has never been about having the most." Instead, he stands by the old Apple line of quality versus quantity. "Arguably, we make the best PC, but we don't make the most," he added. "We made the best music player, and we wound up making the most -- but we didn't initially." Rather than focus on install base, Cupertino's chief turned to usage stats to illustrate their supremacy, noting that their slates are the most popular for browsing the web. "You can look at tablet web market share in North America," Cook said. "Almost every study I see has the iPad in the 80s (percentage)." Before even broaching the subject of Google's mobile OS, Cook cited NetApp figures that show 59 percent of worldwide web traffic from smartphones and tablets comes from iOS devices. We're sure the folks in Mountain View are content with quantity, though we'd hazard a guess they enjoy quality as well. Update: We've slotted in a video clip of Tim Cook responding to the ballooning Android market share after the break. Follow along with our D11 liveblog right here.
IDC: Tablets to outsell notebooks in 2013, all PCs in 2015
Well, that certainly didn't take long. The modern tablet, introduced by Apple with the first iPad in 2010, is completely changing the market for computing devices. IDC today released projections showing that tablet shipments will beat those of notebook computers this year, and that by 2015 more tablets will be sold than all types of PCs combined. That's not the only interesting information included in the IDC report: the company also notes that tablets with screens less than eight inches in size have already overtaken sales of devices with larger screens like the 9.7-inch iPad. IDC shows slight growth in sales of the smaller tablets into 2017, with devices with screens larger than the original iPad expected to pull in 6 percent of sales by that year. [via MacRumors]
Strategy Analytics: Samsung topped China smartphone share in Q1
Many analysts believe that Samsung led the Chinese smartphone market throughout much of 2012, and there are already signs of a repeat coming in 2013. Strategy Analytics now estimates that the Galaxy maker sold 12.5 million smartphones in the country during the first quarter of this year, or enough to stay in front at 18.5 percent market share. Others didn't come close, although there was a fierce battle for the runner up spot. Huawei (8.1 million) barely pushed past Lenovo (7.9 million) to become number two in China, while Coolpad (7.1 million), ZTE (6.4 million) and Apple (6.1 million) were locked in their own fight for fourth place. While it's true that market share isn't the only yardstick for smartphone success, having the most popular devices in the world's most populous country undoubtedly helps with bragging rights.
iOS and Android comprised 92.3% of Q1 2013 smartphone shipments
According to a new report from IDC, the smartphone market continues to be dominated by Android and Apple's iOS. Together, the two mobile operating systems accounted for a whopping 92.3 percent of all smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2013. Impressively, Apple, during the quarter gone by, shipped 37.4 million iPhones, a 6 percent increase from the same quarter a year ago. Shipments of Android-based smartphones, however, increased by 79.5 percent. Consequently, Apple's share of smartphone shipments last quarter slipped from 23 percent down to 17.3 percent. IDC's report notes: Apple iOS marked its largest ever first quarter volume on the strength of its iPhone shipment volumes, yet the operating system posted a year-over-year decline in market share and lower year-over-year shipment growth than the overall market. Although demand remains strong worldwide, the iOS experience has remained largely the same since the first iPhone debuted in 2007. That appears ready to change as online rumors and speculation predict a massive overhaul of the user interface when iOS 7 debuts. Underscoring how fast the smartphone market continues to grow, IDC's data reveals that worldwide smartphone shipments shot up 59.1 percent year over year, increasing from 125.4 million units shipped during Q1 2012 to 199.5 million units in Q1 2013. Some other notes of interest from IDC's report include the fact that Samsung by itself accounted for 41.1 percent of Q1 2013 smartphone shipments, representing 54.6 percent of all Android-based smartphones shipped during the quarter. The largest year over year gain was recorded by Windows Phone as shipment volume increased 133 percent, hitting a total of 7 million units for the quarter. During Q1 2013, Windows Phone devices accounted for 7 percent of all smartphones shipped while BlackBerry's share of smartphone shipments fell to 6.3 percent.
Gartner: Android and Samsung dominate the phone market in Q1
If you've been following the trends, Gartner's mobile phone market figures for the first quarter of 2013 won't surprise. The research firm estimates that Android was on 74.4 percent of all smartphones sold in the period, with Samsung the key beneficiary of such dominance. While the Korean behemoth doesn't release solid sales figures, Gartner believes its market-flooding strategy has paid off, topping the league with 30.8 percent market share -- Apple has a firm grip on second place, with 18.2 percent, which is well ahead of LG, which has 4.8 percent. Samsung is also king of the mobile phone space, owning 23.6 percent of the market, ahead of Nokia, which has fallen to 14.8 percent share. Gartner's research also found that feature phone sales are slowing, so we guess that it's only a matter of time before the humble candybar goes the way of the netbook.
