Kantar shows iOS making non universal gains

The iPhone made dramatic share gains in the fall, but only in some countries, Kantar Worldpanel found Thursday. In the more recently Android-friendly US, Apple's share of smartphones between September and November was up from 25 percent a year earlier to 36 percent. The UK saw a similar turn, up from 21 percent to 31 percent, while Australia was also positive.

Mainland Europe, however, wasn't as friendly to Apple and saw less dramatic but noticeable slides in the reverse direction. France, Germany, Italy, and Spain all saw declines, with the most pronounced drops coming as France dropped from 29 percent to 20 percent while Germany fell from 27 percent to 22 percent. Germany saw Android get one of its widest leads, where 61 percent were getting phones headed up by the Galaxy S II.

Kantar attributed the French decline to "price sensitivity," but much of continental Europe was likely being hit by a possible reversal of economic growth as the recovery from 2008 slid back.

The difference may have been helped by Samsung's marketing focus. Outside of Korea, it almost always focuses on Europe first and had the Galaxy S II out in May where it waited until October to acknowledge the US. Carrier insistence on customizations likely delayed the American versions.

Apple's rises in Australia and the UK weren't as clear, but it was helped in the US by having its first genuinely new iPhones on Sprint and Verizon. The iPhone has so far led sales on every US carrier as soon as it became available. Most of this has come at Android's expense, as HTC expects to shrink this fall partly because it can't depend on being sheltered from Apple by Sprint.

By Electronista Staff