Global mobile phone sales fall by 3.1 per cent in third quarter

Global mobile phone sales fell 3.1 per cent year-on-year to almost 428 million in the third quarter, according to Gartner research.
Smartphones accounted for 36.9 per cent of the total and grew 46.9 per cent from a year earlier to 169.2 million units. While the total market showed a decline, Gartner said it saw signs of improving demand in both both mature and emerging markets, as sales increased sequentially. Demand was supported by smartphone sales in China and a recovery in replacement sales in mature markets thanks to new device introductions. 

Samsung led both the total market with a 22.9 per cent share of unit sales and took 32.5 per cent of the smartphone market. Nokia's share fell to 19.2 per cent of the total market and it dropped to seventh place in smartphones. Apple was in third place in the total market with 5.5 percent, followed by ZTE with 3.9 per cent and LG with 3.3 per cent. 

In terms of operating systems, Android commanded a 72.4 per cent share in Q3, followed by Apple's iOS with 13.9 percent, Research In Motion's BlackBerry with 5.3 percent, Samsung's Bada at 3.0 percent, Symbian with 2.6 per cent and Microsoft's Windows at 2.4 per cent.

Android market share to peak this year

The worldwide mobile phone market will slow to a growth of just over four per cent this year, its lowest rate since 2009, due to a sharp decline in the feature phone market and sluggish global economic conditions, global market researcher IDC predicted.
The market researcher estimated that vendors will ship a total of nearly 1.8 billion mobile phones this year, as compared to 1.7 billion in 2011, and the total will rise to 2.3 billion in 2016.
Feature phones are still expected to make up 61.6 per cent of total shipments this year, but their sales will drop an estimated 10 per cent from 2011. In comparison, the smartphone market is forecast to grow by 38.8 per cent in 2012 to 686 million units.
The IDC projected Google's Android will remain the most shipped smartphone operating system over the course of the five-year forecast, though its share will peak this year at 61 per cent.
Microsoft's Windows will be the fastest-growing OS, going from an estimated 5.2 per cent market share in 2012 to 19.2 per cent in 2016, thanks to Nokia's strong presence in emerging markets.
Apple is expected to be stable over the period at around 20 per cent of the smartphone market, and Research In Motion (RIM) is expected to hold on to an around six per cent share.
Similarly, the market analysts at IDC predicted that Windows Phone will take almost 20 per cent of the smartphone market by 2016, overtaking Apple's IOS mobile operating system (OS).
According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, Microsoft's market share will balloon to 19.2 per cent in 2016 from the 5.2 per cent market share it has today. Apple's share will drop from 20.5 to 19 per cent and Android market share will slip from 61 per cent to 52.9 per cent.

Global smartphone sales up by 42 per cent

Worldwide sales of mobile devices totaled 440.5 million units in the third quarter of 2011, up by 5.6 per cent from the same period last year, according to Gartner.
Non-smartphone devices performed well, driven by demand in emerging markets for low-cost devices from white-box manufacturers and for dual-Sim models. Regions such as Asia/Pacific and the Middle East and Africa made up for a weaker performance in the Western European market and are expected to support growth over the full year, the market researcher said.
Smartphone sales to end users reached 115 million units in the third quarter, up by 42 per cent from a year earlier. Sequentially, smartphone sales slowed to seven per cent growth from the second quarter.
Smartphones accounted for 26 per cent of all mobile phone sales, growing only marginally from 25 per cent in the previous quarter. Strong smartphone growth in China and Russia helped increase overall volumes in the quarter, but demand for smartphones stalled in advanced markets such as Western Europe and the US as many users waited for new flagship devices, Gartner added.
Slowdowns also occurred in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa. Nokia continued to be the worldwide leader in mobile device sales with a 23.9 per cent market share, followed by Samsung with 17.8 per cent. However, Samsung became the world's top smartphone vendor, driven by growth in Asia and Western Europe and demand for its Galaxy handsets. Android was the leading operating system, accounting for 52.5 per cent of smartphones sold. Symbian followed with 16.9 per cent, Apple's iOS was at 15 per cent, and Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry accounted for 11 per cent.

RIM launches BlackBerry music service

Research In Motion (RIM) confirmed its new Blackberry music service is now available in Canada, the US and Australia.
More regions will get the BBM Music app soon. BBM Music is a cloud-based, social music service that allows users to pick up to 50 tracks a month to listen to on their BlackBerry, also in offline mode, according to RIM. "The list can be refreshed by swapping out up to 25 songs each month."
In addition, users can access music on the profile of friends who agree to share their tracks, it said, adding that friends can comment on each others' songs, and also create and share playlists from their own and friends' music collections.
Run from the BBM Music app, the service includes a visual timeline that shows the recent updates of all friends, including who added new friends, which songs were added or removed, which playlists were created and what comments were made by BBM Music friends.
The BBM Music service is powered by Omnifone, which handles content management, music hosting and reporting functions. The major labels Sony Music, EMI, Warner Music and Universal have agreed to provide tracks for the service. The subscription costs $4.99 per month (Canadian$4.99, Australian$5.99), and the company is offering the first two months free in North America and one month free in Australia.
Customers can also get a free service, where they can listen to the first 30 seconds of music tracks.

Worldwide sales of mobile devices up by 16.5pc

Worldwide sales of mobile devices to end users totalled 428.7 million units in the second quarter of this year, a 16.5 per cent increase from the second quarter of 2010, according to a study by Gartner that delivers technology research to global technology business leaders to make informed decisions on key initiatives.
The channel built up stock at the end of the first quarter in preparation of possible component shortages following the Japanese earthquake. As a result, sell-in demand slowed in the second quarter of 2011 to 421.1 million units, a 4.4 per cent decrease from the previous quarter.
"Sales of smartphones were up by 74 per cent and accounted for 25 per cent of overall sales, up from 17 per cent in the second quarter of 2010," the report said, adding that it is supported by operator promotions on low and mid-range smartphones, which consumers are choosing over feature phones.
However, replacement sales in Western Europe showed signs of fatigue as smartphone sales declined quarter-on-quarter. Gartner expected manufacturers and distributors to remain cautious about raising their stock levels in the second half of 2011, following the recent uncertainty on world financial markets. The market researcher expected sales of mobile devices to grow around 12 per cent in the full year 2011.
In smartphones, Nokia’s sales into the channel in the second quarter of 2011 were low. "It was partly due to a very competitive market that deflated demand for Symbian, but also to inventory management issues in Europe and China in particular," it added.
Samsung achieved strong growth in sales of mobile devices. The Galaxy S II sold well, and the model went on to chalk up by five million in sales by the end of July. A strong performance in the smartphone market helped Samsung increase its market share to become the third-largest smartphone vendor. However, its overall share dropped year-on-year, and grew only marginally quarter-on-quarter, mainly due to Samsung’s weaker presence in more price-sensitive market segments.
Apple continued to exceed expectations, even though the iPhone 4 will soon be replaced by a new model, according to Gartner that attributed the growth to its 42 new carriers and fifteen new countries that brought its total coverage to 100 countries.
In mainland China, Apple is the seventh-largest mobile phone vendor and the third-largest smartphone vendor. RIM’s share of the smartphone market declined to 12 per cent, from 19 per cent a year ago. The company also lost its number five position in the worldwide ranking of mobile device vendors to ZTE. Demand for RIM’s devices in the second quarter was impaired by an ageing portfolio and delays in shipping products. Google and Apple are the obvious winners in the smartphone ecosystem. The combined share of iOS and Android in the smartphone OS market doubled to nearly 62 per cent in the second quarter, up from over 31 per cent in the corresponding period of 2010.

Global mobile phone market grows by 17.9pc in fourth quarter

The worldwide mobile phone market grew by 17.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010, a new quarterly high driven by smartphones, according to a study by IDC.
Vendors shipped by 401.4 million units, compared to 340.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2009. Vendors shipped a total of 1.39 billion units on a cumulative worldwide basis in 2010, up by 18.5 per cent from 1.17 billion in 2009.
ZTE, a company that sells primarily lower-cost feature phones in emerging markets, moved into the number four position worldwide in fourth quarter. Nokia, Samsung and LG remained the top three vendors, while Apple was in fifth place. IDC believes the worldwide mobile phone market will be driven largely by smartphone growth through the end of 2014. The market researcher estimates that the smartphone sub-market will grow by 43.7 per cent in 2011.
The Asia/Pacific mobile phone landscape was driven by low-cost and high-end devices in the fourth quarter. Domestic brands in India like G-Five, Micromax and Karbonn grew with aggressive advertising and branding activities for entry-level phones, while ZTE and Huawei worked closely with carriers to push low-cost Android smartphones in China.
High-end smartphones, however, were equally well-received, resulting in higher shipments from Apple, Samsung, and HTC in the fourth quarter. Korea had the biggest smartphone appetite accounting for two-thirds of phones shipped in the fourth quarter, up from one-eighth a year ago.
In Western Europe, carrier smartphone promotions motivated more users to scrap their feature phones, resulting in strong smartphone sales. The iPhone 4, HTC Desire, Nokia N8, Samsung Galaxy S and Blackberry 8520, which were among the region''s top sellers, contributed to the overall market''s growth. Consequently, feature phones experienced their sharpest decline ever. In CEMA, quarterly volumes breached the 70 million unit threshold for the first time, marked by an influx of Chinese and unbranded handsets. Meanwhile, smartphones experienced brisk growth due to falling prices and more Android-powered devices.
The US mobile phone market closed out the year with more vendors becoming more active in smartphones. Market leaders RIM and Apple maintained a healthy lead, while newcomers Dell, Huawei, Kyocera and Sanyo launched their first smartphones in the US market. In addition, 4G took another step forward with the commercial launch of Verizon Wireless'' LTE network.
Similarly, in Canada, the focus was on smartphones. Android-powered devices from multiple players, along with incumbent vendors RIM and Apple, pushed shipment volumes to a new record level.
In Latin America, sustained user interest in smartphones drove the market, resulting in strong results for Nokia, RIM, and Samsung as well as relative newcomer Huawei. Smartphones, as well as Qwerty-enabled feature phones, helped boost social networking and messaging. Finally, Alcatel and ZTE once again thrived in the inexpensive entry-level device market.
Nokia’s overall unit volume slipped by 2.4 per cent in the fourth quarter, which the vendor attributed to the ‘intense competitive’ environment and component shortages. The result was lower feature phone shipments. The company did, however, grow smartphone volume by 38 per cent compared to the same prior-year quarter. Still, smartphone ASPs dropped by 16 per cent on a year-over-year basis.
Samsung reached a new milestone in the fourth quarter, pushing through the 80 million unit threshold for the first time in the company''s history and improving its profit margins for the second straight quarter. Driving shipment volumes was the continued success of its Galaxy S smartphones, of which the company sold nearly 10 million units worldwide for the year.
Similarly, Samsung''s mass-market and touch-screen phones earned a strong following in emerging markets.
LG crossed the 30 million unit mark for the quarter, due in part to the success of Optimus One smartphone sales across multiple regions. LG's feature phones comprised the majority of shipments, but an aging portfolio and lower prices within emerging markets left the company vulnerable to the competition.
ZTE finished the quarter in the number four position with shipments steadily spreading from its home country of China to developing regions such as Africa and Latin America. ZTE has also recently made inroads in developed markets such as Western Europe and the US as well as Japan. While most of its shipments have concentrated on entry-level and mid-range devices, some of its recent success is directly attributable to its rapidly expanding smartphone line, such as the Android-based Blade and Racer devices.
Meanwhile, its S- and C-series entry-level feature phones provided additional competition within emerging markets.
Apple slipped to the number five position despite a record quarter for unit shipments. The iPhone sold particularly well in developed regions of the world, such as North America and Western Europe.