Apple exceeds 1% phone share target for 2008
updated 02:00 pm EST, Thu January 29, 2009
Apple Exceeds 1pc Share
Apple has met and pushed past its target of 1 percent of world cellphone market share in 2008, according to an ABI Research study. iPhones now represent 1.1 percent of the entire cellphone market and grew in dramatically from just 0.3 percent during 2007, when the iPhone was only available for half of the year and only in a limited number of countries. The number puts Apple on par with phone veteran HTC and slightly ahead of Sharp.
Nokia continues to lead the market despite recent declines in share with 38.6 percent, while Samsung is second with 16.2 percent. Motorola has erased some of its edge and is now tied for third at 8.3 percent with LG, while Sony Ericsson now has just 8 percent. Apple's often-referenced close competitor Research in Motion continues to edge out the iPhone with 1.9 percent of the market belonging to BlackBerries, nearly doubling its 1.1 percent share from 2007.
Apple's entrance also comes in spite of overall market growth and of hostile conditions. About 1.21 billion cellphones shipped during 2008, forcing Apple to increase its sales to meet its target. The company was further hindered by an unanticipated shortage of original iPhones during the spring and the economic crash of the fall, which affected nearly all of the cellphone makers.
While one of the fastest proportionate growers, the most significant growth came from Samsung's addition of 2.7 percent share. Motorola lost a significant 5.1 percent of the market and is believed to have tumbled mostly due to a lackluster phone roster that only has a small number of Windows Mobile-based smartphones and focuses mostly on low-cost devices. Sony Ericsson has also shrunk slightly without any modern smartphones outside of the XPERIA X1 launched late into 2008.
ABI doesn't provide major predictions for the rest of 2009 but expects Apple and RIM to thrive, with HTC also likely to do well thanks to the Android-based T-Mobile G1 and other special carrier deals.
TAGS :
iPhone, industry, htc, Nokia, Android, LG, BlackBerry, Motorola, Samsung, T-Mobile, Sharp, Research in Motion, Sony Ericsson, XPERIA, mobile phones, Apple, ABI Research
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2007
And they said that
Apple could never attain that number in a year or so. Very impressive and yet Apple fell just the same as the companies that lost market share. A rather disappointing turn of events.