Apple Now Largest US Smartphone Company
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The introduction of the new iPhone 4 earlier this year has helped make Apple the largest smartphone company in the US. According to a recent report from research firm Canalys. Apple has just jumped to the top of the US smartphone list by unseating RIM to earn the top spot. Apple was able to secure 26.2% of the total US smartphone market versus 24.2% for RIM and 3% for Microsoft who came in third.
Apple was also able to improve it’s international market position by eating into Nokia’s market share. Nokia continues to be the largest global smartphone provider, but saw its market share shrink to 33%. Apple and RIM held the second and third spots with market share of 17% and 15% respectively.
Apple has been able to make great strides with its handsets, but when it comes to mobile operating systems, Android continues to be on a tear. The “open” OS from Google now runs on 44% of the smartphones in the US. Andoroid is also doing very well outside the US where it saw a nearly 1,309% year-over-year growth, going from 1.4 million units in 2009 to 20 million units in Q3 2010.
Pete Cunningham, an Canalys Senior Analyst said that, “With Samsung, HTC, Motorola and Sony Ericsson all delivering large numbers of Android devices, and with focused efforts from many other vendors, such as LG, Huawei and Acer, yielding promising volumes, the platform continues to gather momentum in markets around the world”
Apple continues to do well with their iOS based mobile devices but the plethora of manufacturers using the Android operating system means that we will see the OS begin to take more market share from RIM, Microsoft and Apple over the next year.
