Survey: Apple tops Nokia among Chinese phone buyers
updated 01:30 am EDT, Thu October 27, 2011
Pent-up demand for iPhone 4S seen
Wall Street financial firm Morgan Stanley has published the results of a poll taken in September among 2,050 Chinese mobile phone users, showing that Apple's iPhone is making rapid gains in the country, while the former leader Nokia is falling out of favor rapidly, reports AppleInsider. The iPhone is now the first choice for next handset among 34 percent of respondents; Nokia, by contrast, dropped eight points in the survey to sit at 16 percent.
The intention to buy an iPhone, Morgan Stanley notes, is 4.5 times its current marketshare in the country, where the iPhone 4 only went on sale in the third quarter of last year. Nokia currently has around a 45 percent share of the market compared to Apple's eight percent, but fewer than 20 percent said they would stick with the brand. Only HTC saw a higher interest in its products than the percentage who currently own one in the current poll. The previous poll was taken in February and March.
The respondents also named Apple the leading smartphone brand in China, with more than 75 percent of respondents picking it as the top brand. Morgan Stanley says that China "could surpass the US as Apple's largest market in about three years," estimating that such a move could add $30 billion per year to Apple's revenues.
In the most recent quarter, Apple's market share actually went down (from 12 percent to seven percent), but this reflects Chinese customers waiting for the iPhone 4S to debut in the country. Like Nokia, RIM and Sony Ericsson also lost share in the planned-purchases category. Apple has been paying a lot of attention to the China market recently, resulting in impressive gains in revenue from the region. In fiscal 2010, Apple had $3 billion in revenue from China; in fiscal 2011, that grew to $13 billion.
The analyst firm also detected a "halo effect" in China, with their research showing that Mac use is four times higher among iPhone buyers. Apple's computers have about nine percent user share in China generally, but 35 percent among iPhone users. The effect extends to iPods as well, with iPhone users buying iPods at just over double the rate seen in the general population. [via AppleInsider]
