Apple's iPhone tops US smartphone shipments, but Android devices take 44% - Apple Insider

Apple's iPhone tops US smartphone shipments, but Android devices take 44%

By Neil Hughes

Published: 09:45 AM EST

Apple's iPhone was the best-selling smartphone in the third quarter of 2010, taking 26.2 percent of the market, but the wide variety of handsets running Google's Android represented a commanding 43.6 percent.

New data from Canalys released on Monday shows that Apple took the top spot in the U.S. as the best-selling smartphone vendor in the country. Apple's 26.2 percent share edged Research in Motion's 24.2 percent, giving Apple the greatest shipments of any vendor in the U.S., which is the largest smartphone market in the world.

However, Canalys also found that devices running Google's Android mobile operating system represented 43.6 percent of U.S.shipments in the third quarter of 2010. Worldwide, Android grew 1,309 percent from the same period a year ago, from 1.4 million shipments in the third quarter of 2009 to more than 20 million units during the three-month span this year.

"With Samsung, HTC, Motorola and Sony Ericsson all delivering large numbers of Android devices, and with focused efforts from many other vendors, such as LG, Huawei and Acer, yielding promising volumes, the platform continues to gather momentum in markets around the world," said Canalys Senior Analyst Pete Cunningham.

"Android has been well received by the market and in some geographies it is becoming a sought-after consumer brand. It has rapidly become the platform to watch, and its growing volumes will help to entice developers, ensuring consumers have access to an increasingly rich and vibrant mobile content and application ecosystem."

The numbers show a total of 9.1 million smartphones running Android from the Open Handset Alliance being shipped in the third quarter of 2010. That was ahead of the estimated 5.5 million iPhones sold in the three-month frame. Research in Motion's BlackBerry came in third in the mobile operating system race, shipping an estimated 5.1 million, followed by Microsoft with 600,000.

Recent studies have repeatedly shown that Android-based smartphone shipments have eclipsed Apple's iPhone in 2010. Some have shown that Android's growth was not slowed by the launch of the iPhone 4 this summer.

Apple and Android have publicly disputed one another over new device activation numbers throughout 2010. But on last month, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs admitted that Android outsold the iPhone in the June quarter, citing numbers from Gartner which he said he believes are "pretty accurate."

Jobs said during his company's quarterly earnings call that in the June quarter, many customers were waiting to buy the iPhone 4. He said his company is waiting to find out what happened in the September quarter, but it's hard to track because there is no "solid data" on how many Android devices are shipped each quarter.

Apple just had its best quarter ever, selling a record 14.1 million iPhones. That helped the company achieve 70 percent growth in profits to $4.31 billion.

View the original article here

Apple iPhone Leapfrogs RIM BlackBerry in Smartphone Rankings - eWeek

Apple, Research In Motion and Android phone producers such as Samsung put in strong performances during a third quarter that showed smartphone sales to be very much dictating the global handset market. The handset market also seems to be rewarding phone vendors that are constantly innovating and producing the strongest possible portfolio of smartphones.  

The launch of the iPhone 4 helped Apple, according to Oct. 28 reports from research firms IDC and Strategy Analytics, join the list of top-five performers for the first time. Apple, such as competitor RIM, only contributes smartphones to the handheld market, and both vendors posted highest-growth rates among the top five vendors during the quarter.  

?The mobile phone makers that are delivering popular smartphone models are among the fastest-growing firms,? Kevin Restivo, an IDC senior research analyst, said in a statement. ?Vendors that aren?t developing a strong portfolio of smartphones will be challenged to maintain and grow market share in the future.?  

Nokia has learned this lesson well. While the long-time market leader, Nokia saw its volumes grow below the market average for the ninth consecutive quarter, despite posting ?record smartphone shipments of 26 million units,? according to Strategy Analytics. Looking to again be a serious smartphone contender, Nokia has introduced four high-end models, the N8, C7, C6-01 and E7, which it hopes will significantly impact its fourth quarter.  

?The N8, C7 and C6-01 will be attacking Sony Ericsson, LG and Samsung, while the E7 will set its sights on RIM, HTC and others,? wrote Analyst Neil Mawston, author of the Strategy Analytics report.  

LG Electronics, Mawston points out, saw shipments shrink 10 percent compared to a year ago, and ?like Motorola and Sony Ericsson before it, has missed much of the boom in premium 3G smartphones,? causing it ?financial pain.? As competitors such as Samsung begin releasing 3G tablets, Mawston warned, ?LG must be careful not to repeat this error.?  

Samsung, with its line of Galaxy S smartphones and Galaxy Tab tablet, was quick to jump on the Android craze, and consequently shipped 71.4 million units during the quarter?an all-time high for the company. It also more than doubled the number of converged mobile devices, or smartphones, it shipped. During the fourth quarter, it will bring still more smartphones to market, though its Wave 2 will launch with Bada, its in-house OS.  

IDC estimated that the global handset market grew 14.6 percent during the quarter, with a total of 340.5 million shipments, which Strategy Analytics put the figure slightly lower, at 327 million.  

Again, according to IDC, market leader Nokia shipped 110.4 million handsets, to claim 32.4 percent market share and was followed by Samsung, with shipments of 71.4 million units for 21 percent market share. Third-place LG shipped 28.4 million units, for 8.3 percent of the market, and Apple, jumping ahead of RIM to claim fourth position, shipped 14.1 million units to claim 4.1 percent market share?and post a remarkable 90.5 percent year-on-year growth.  

Fifth-place RIM, with 3.6 percent of the market, shipped 12.4 million units, for a year-on-year growth of 45.9 percent. While IDC reports that RIM shipped a record number of units during the quarter, and showed particular growth in Latin America, in the U.S., Strategy Analytics highlighted that its ?relatively weak touchphone portfolio for consumer users? has challenged the company, particularly following a lukewarm response to the Torch. 

With its fellow top vendors, RIM will need to proceed smartly though the fourth quarter, or risk being chucked off the list.  

?There is a long tail of second-tier players emerging who are knocking on the doors of the top five players,? Strategy Analytics? Mawston warned. ?ZTE, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Huawei and Alcatel are all shipping volumes that are within touch distance of the leading group.?  

ZTE in particular is growing at an above-average rate, Mawston noted, and ?stands a good chance of entering the top five in coming quarters.?   

View the original article here

Microsoft to Unveil Its Smartphone Lineup - Wall Street Journal

Microsoft Calling: Microsoft will formally unveil Monday a lineup of smartphones using the revamped version of its mobile operating system, Windows 7. The phones will be available through AT&T and T-Mobile USA.

Kid Channel: Hasbro is set to launch a children's cable network today, as it tries to expand from a toy maker to an entertainment company.

Earnings Roundup: J.P. Morgan Chase, General Electric, Google, Mattel and Intel are among those reporting.

Columbus Day: The stock market and most commodity markets are open Monday, though bond markets and government offices are closed.

Foreclosures Halted: Bank of America said it's halting all foreclosure sales, the first bank to do so amid political pressure to examine documentation problems. BofA, J.P. Morgan Chase, Ally Financial and others already have postoned foreclosures in 23 states.

Obama Veto: President Obama plans to veto a bill whose opponents say would make it harder for homeowners to stop foreclosures.

Still Jobless: The unemployment rate stood unchanged at 9.6% in September, as small gains in the private sector failed to offset big cuts in government workers.

Home Sales Up: Existing-home sales rose 4.3% in September from August.

False Charges: Verizon Wireless said it will issue refunds to 15 million customers who were incorrectly billed for data services.

Settlement: Wells Fargo has agreed to pay $24 million and reduce the amount owed on certain loans to settle an investigation into the marketing of risky mortgages.

iPhone Expansion: Apple announced it's creating a version of the iPhone to be sold through Verizon Wireless starting early next year, ending an exclusive deal with AT&T.

—Wall Street Journal Sunday writers regularly contribute to the Journal's weekday "Your Money Matters" personal-finance podcast. Listen at WSJ.com/Podcasts

View the original article here

Post Tech: Android takes smart-phone lead from BlackBerry, iPhone - Washington Post

Android phones have replaced the BlackBerry and iPhone in popularity among new users, according to new data by Nielsen.

Statistics show that Google's operating system for mobile phones has become a greater threat in the dynamic and competitive market for wireless smart phones.

In August, 32 percent of new users (people who bought a phone within the past six months) purchased a device running on Google's operating system, more than double the portion of new users surveyed in January.

Research in Motion's BlackBerry operating system and Apple's iPhone were behind at about 25 percent of the market each.

Overall, BlackBerry continues to dominate the smart-phone market for new and longer-term consumers with 31 percent of all sales. But that portion is down from 36 percent in January. Google's Android sales have more than doubled from 8 percent to 19 percent of all customers.

Fierce competition is not only being displayed in sales but in patent disputes between phone makers. Microsoft, which has trailed all operating systems, sued Motorola for allegedly infringing smart-phone patents related to e-mail, calendar and other applications. Apple and HTC have a back-and-forth patents dispute. In March, Apple sued Taiwan-based HTC, the manufacturer of such Android phones as the HTC Hero and Google's Nexus One (since taken off the market), alleging that it had infringed on 20 Apple patents related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.

Separately, Apple was ordered by a Texas jury to pay more than $625 million to a computer science professor for alleged patent infringements.

View the original article here