comScore starts covering Canadian smartphones

comScore on Wednesday revealed some of the first real details of the Canadian smartphone market for the first time. True to expectations, Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM has the largest share in the country with the BlackBerry making up 42 percent of the entire market. The iPhone has a larger share than in the US at 31 percent.

In a surprise to Google, Android is a distant third to both of its rivals, reaching just 12.2 percent of Canada. Symbian has half the share at 6.4 percent where Microsoft's combined Windows Phone and Windows Mobile platforms sit at just 5.1 percent, half of their usual footprint in the US.

Researchers didn't try to explain the share split outside of RIM's expected national bias, though the Canadian government even more so than in the US makes the BlackBerry a regular piece of equipment. Apple's larger stake has been helped by Android's slow entry into the country as well as a much greater choice of carriers. Where US iPhone sales were dominated by AT&T until February, Canadians have had multiple carrier choices for considerably longer and now have five carriers, along with an unlocked option.

Android's failure to gain traction is unusual in the country as it goes against the carriers' own best efforts. Every significant carrier, including newcomers like Wind Mobile and Mobilicity, often advertises Android as its premiere offering even when the iPhone is present and despite downplaying the better-selling BlackBerry. The market has been partly hurt by a lack of quick access to equivalents of American flagships like the Motorola Droid X as well as long, three-year contracts that make it difficult to quickly switch over without an early cancellation fee.

By Electronista Staff