Google Android gains ‘by leaps and bounds’ in smartphone market
February 7th, 2011 1:59 pm PT.
examiner.com
Mountain View-based Google has a phenomenal hit on its hands with its Android mobile operating system as evidenced by sales figures out today from the research firm IDC. Two smartphone makers, for whom Android is a core platform for their devices, scored triple-digit gains in sales in a report for the fourth quarter of 2010.
Samsung reported global sales of 9.7 million units in the fourth quarter, a whopping 438.9 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2009, while HTC reported sales of 8.6 million units, up 258.3 percent over the year ago quarter. Those numbers vaunted Samsung and HTC to fourth and fifth place, respectively, among the top five smartphone sellers globally, including sales of its new 4G-capable phones.
The top three, in order, where Nokia with 28.3 million units sold, an increase of 36.1 percent, Apple with 16.2 million units for a 86.2 percent increase and Research in Motion (maker of BlackBerry smartphones) with sales of 14.6 million units for a 36.4 percent increase.
Even just a double-digit increase in unit sales for the seller on anything would be cause for celebration, but for smartphones, it speaks the growing appeal of feature-rich devices globally. IDC reported that for the quarter, total smartphone sales rose 87.2 percent to 100.9 million units, from 53.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.
For the year as a whole, smartphone sales hit 302.6 million in 2010, up 74.4 percent from 173.5 million in 2009.
Also benefiting from the surge in smartphone sales is Cupertino-based Apple, which recorded an 86.2 percent jump in fourth quarter sales of iPhones to 16.2 million units and an 89.2 percent jump in annual sales to 47.5 million. IDC attributed Apple iPhone’s success to strong growth in Japan and other Asia/Pacific markets, as well as growth in enterprise sales, which had initially been reluctant to support iPhone on its corporate networks.
The much anticipated launch of phones with the new Microsoft Windows Phone 7 devices had a modest launch in the quarter of only 1.5 million units shipped, but one which an IDC analyst says is significant in perspective.
Microsoft has been a pioneer in smartphones but its Windows Mobile OS fell out of favor and had been surpassed in sales in recent years by Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, noted Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst for IDC’s mobile devices technology and trends research. Still, for Microsoft to ship 1.5 million units globally out of the gate, “that to me is strong.”
Also keep in mind, Llamas added, that Windows Phone 7 devices only went on sale Nov. 8 in the U.S. so it wasn’t even on the market for the full quarter. Still, many industry observers have noted the rather tepid market reaction to Phone 7.
There is more opportunity for Phone 7 to build sales as it begins selling on the Sprint and Verizon networks sometime in the first half of 2011. Right now it’s only available on AT&T and T-Mobile in the U.S. and with global carriers such as Tellus in Canada, O2, Orange and Vodaphone in Europe, SingTel in Singapore and Telstra in Australia, among others. |
