Apple's Share of Global Mobile Phone Market Hits 5%

[PlipPlop]

I only know 2 people with an iphone all the rest have either the HTC Desire or Desire HD. Once I showed my friends my Desire they all switched. Same as my work too. Nearly everyone had an iphone then I brought my HTC into the office and within a few weeks everyone had a Desire

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I continue to be amazed by the number of students at my community college that have iPhones. These are students who for the most part are struggling to make ends meet, yet were willing to spend their limited cash that way. There are at least two or three students with iPhones in each of my classes; two years ago, I didn't see any -- and mine was a curiosity to them.

well depends how things are paid for you might be less impressed.
I am a struggling college student but out side of school expenses my only other cost is gas for my car.

That means insurance and phone bill is covered by my parents that frees up a fair amount of resources to get smart phones and from others I talk to in school that is often times a big help parents give is covering cost other than school.

As for smart phones I know at were I go to school the phone that is common on campus depends which college you are in. If it is the computer science and Engineering then iPhone is in the minority. Android rules the roost followed by Blackberry. The iPhone in a class of 30 you will see 2 some times 3. By enlarge it is Android followed by blackberry. iPhone is in the small minority. WP7 I will see out numbering the iPhone soon.

Now if you go to the other building on that has education and business (along with art) rules change and iPhone becomes much more popular.

Now back to us SCE students area a lot of us own iPods and I know the iPads out number the iPhones but for a phone we just do not like iOS end of story. Android is were a lot of the students want to go for.

 

[kdarling]

Android is not a consistent platform. A huge chunk of that "market share" is running 1.6 and is not compatible with anything in the Market.

It would seem like that would be true, wouldn't it? But it's not.

There are a lot of apps compiled to be compatible back to 1.6 that are usable by the third world tablets you're apparently talking about. If an app doesn't need newer API features, and many apps don't, a dev's not going to limit their audience by needlessly marking it for a later version. That goes for both iOS and Android.

Of the tablets and phones made by members of the Open Handset Alliance that do have Market access built-in, 94% are on version 2.x.

Also note that when Google says there are over 350,000 Android activations each day, that's only for devices that use Google Services. Which leaves out all those ~$100 tablets you're referring to.

These comparison of a single device against a loose collection of largely incompatible devices is growing tiresome.

Not sure they're any more "incompatible" than an iPhone 4 running the latest iOS and an original iPhone running 3.x or older. At least all the Android devices support multitasking.

I made no mistakes. There is not a phone in the world that sold more then (sic) the Phone.

Which iPhone? There have been four distinct models. As for best selling phones:

Nokia 1100 .........(250 million)
Nokia 3210 .........(150 million)
Motorola RAZR V3 ...(130 million)
Nokia 3310/3330 ... (126 million)
iPhone 4 ...........( 30 million)
iPhone 3GS......... ( 30 million)
Samsung S5230 ....  ( 30 million)
Nokia 2100 .........( 20 million)
iPhone 3G ..........( 15 million)
LG Chocolate .......( 15 million)

The original iPhone is down around 25th in that list, well below the Samsung Galaxy S, Blackberry Pearl, et al.

Still and all, it's done amazingly well. Congrats to Apple.

 

[dubbz]

Looks like a lot of phones are in the "other" categories. I recall going abroad last year and seeing a lot of folks sporting Android devices.

Pretty amazing number. I would love to see a more detailed list of that "Other" category.

Android is not a consistent platform. A huge chunk of that "market share" is running 1.6 and is not compatible with anything in the Market. What I said is true. What you said sounds like a desperate attempt to redefine winning.

3.5% is huge chunk? 90%+ runs 2.1 Eclair or higher. The majority of that being 2.2 Froyo.

Source. Numbers as of 1 April.

 

[KingCrimson]

Apple makes as much profit on an iPhone as competitors make on one 4-5 Android smartphones. That's what really matters.

 

[SandynJosh]

I only know 2 people with an iphone all the rest have either the HTC Desire or Desire HD. Once I showed my friends my Desire they all switched. Same as my work too. Nearly everyone had an iphone then I brought my HTC into the office and within a few weeks everyone had a Desire

HINT: When lying, always make it a believable lie.

 

[caspersoong]

That's quite a revelation to me. The tables will turn soon with Nokia crumbling.

 

[bushido]

cant say about the US but where i live the iPhone is kinda losing its image, the market seems to be saturated and people are getting sick of seeing iPhones everywhere. the times where "OMG an iPhone" were the norm r long gone and people r looking more and more elsewhere > android. it's kinda like going shopping at H&M ... "its pretty but i dont buy it bc i know a billion other people who own the same pants"

 

[tigress666]

I think you can easily make $70-$90/month by flipping burger....

I think he meant some one trying to make a living on a "Burger King" wage could afford that.

You do realize that when you are making a living you have to for a roof over your head, food, heating, transportation to and from work (at least if not to the grocery store too) all of which are more important than a cellphone plan (nevermind a smartphone plan which really is a luxury).

Sure, if that's the only thing they have to pay for they can easily afford the smartphone plan. I know I couldn't afford it if I wasn't splitting it with my roommate (family plan with lowest minutes, extra line, his company gets him a discount for being an employee with them, no texting). Even then with the hours I'm getting I'd probably be better off not having it (I just got so addicted and I'm not quite at that point yet).

 

[tigress666]

cant say about the US but where i live the iPhone is kinda losing its image, the market seems to be saturated and people are getting sick of seeing iPhones everywhere. the times where "OMG an iPhone" were the norm r long gone and people r looking more and more elsewhere > android. it's kinda like going shopping at H&M ... "its pretty but i dont buy it bc i know a billion other people who own the same pants"

Wow, you got some shallow people if how they choose their phone is by how unique it makes them.

Personally, I pick phone by what it does for me. Granted, Apple at this point will have to f*xor up majorly to lose me cause they got me in their ecosystem (too many itunes and iphone apps that I'd lose ability to use that their would have to be a big incentive with Android or big decentive with iphone to get me to change and lose all the apps and ability to play a lot of my music).

 

[WolfXL]

Guess not, if I was selling Fruit on my market stall and someone said, what's your top/best selling item of fruit and I said, oh, Apple's Apples are the No.1 and No.2 best selling pieces of fruit I have, they outsell everything.

Oh, so you sell loads of Apples the guy asks?

No, I don't sell that many Apple's compared to my other fruit.

the bloke leave with a confused look on his face.

Just because someone is confused by math, doesn't make the math wrong.

To use your fruit example. Say your top 2 selling fruits were green and red apples. 30 red, and 20 green each a day. Which would account for 50 apples a day. Now to keep things simple, let's say you also sell 95 other fruits that aren't apples, but you only sell 10 of each of them a day.

Now, in a day, you sell 3 times as many red apples as you do to all non-apple fruits, and you sell 2 times as many green apples as you do to all non-apple fruits. They are your top 2 sellers by far....but they still only account for 5% of your fruit sales.

 

[icanhas]

In Stockholm and Frankfurt, I hardly see any iPhones. Also, I hardly see any iPads. I do however see a ton of MacBookPros but almost no MacBookAirs.

I find both places very style-centric (Stockholm especially), but also somewhat frugal. I don't think that iPhone will reach as large of a market share in Europe due to the high upfront cost of an iPhone (659€/799€ for 16GB/32GB).

Actually, it's running joke that you can identify an American by iPhone/iPad (aside from the loud inane conversation).

I live in Stockholm and see iPhones virtually everywhere..