Apple lead helped by Motorola drop

Apple has overtaken Motorola to become the single largest American phone manufacturer, according to the companies' own estimates. Motorola's drop to 8.5 million phones shipped this winter was enough for Apple, with 8.75 million iPhones, to claim the title. Palm was a distant third with just 408,000 webOS phones moved in its own quarter.

Although RIM often sells more BlackBerries the US than Apple does iPhones, having a home base in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada makes it a foreign manufacturer.

The switch is a milestone for Apple, which has had a relatively easy time leapfrogging other smartphone designers but has had little success doing the same in terms of absolute phone market share. Motorola's drop was partly voluntary as it has been shedding regular phones to focus most of its attention on smartphones, but the transition has yet to see devices like the Droid or Cliq boost the company's overall position in the market.

Palm is unlikely to become a close competitor in the near future but just this week got significant aid from an acquisition by HP. The PC assembler noted during a conference call that its sheer financial clout and international reach could give Palm a presence in the market it couldn't achieve while operating independently. HP's resources could also improve build quality and other standout problems that have damaged Palm's reputation even as it was well-received for webOS.

By Electronista Staff