The news was sweet and predictable. Smartphones took first place in sales this week, leaving behind the “dumb” phones. Since intelligence always wins over ignorance, those who have the best system at the moment are at each others necks; Apple and Google.
Neilsen, a popular statistical analysis company, has declared that smartphones have already passed the tipping point to become a majority. More than half of all mobile phone buyers ( 55 percent ) are choosing to get a smartphone rather than a “feature phone”, also called a “dumb phone”. The percentage of people buying a smartphone at this time last year ( in the United States ) was just above one third (34 percent ). The increase amounts to a 21 percent rise in sales for the smartphone.
Dividing this up, Apple and Google are the companies occupying the new sales numbers. Apple owns the iPhone and Google markets a mobile operating system that controls smartphones. Google does not make their own smartphones, but farms it out to Asian companies with their name on it. Apple does much of the same, but has their own redesigned operating system for their smartphones, called iOS. The two opposing approaches of having a “somewhat” open operating system and one that follows the “walled garden” approach has made an Android camp and an Apple camp. Currently the Apple way of mobile smartphones is winning. The iPhone is jumping ahead in market share while Android interest has flattened.
Verizon turned out to be the key to the current jump in iPhone sales. Android is reporting activating 500,000 new Android devices daily, but that number does not reflect direct sales of smartphones. Apple has been selling higher numbers of their iPhone every quarter for some time now. They sold 18.65 million iPhones in the second quarter of this year. That is a an increase over the first quarter when they sold 16.24 million iPhones.
Smartphones sales from other manufacturers, even those who were established leaders, have taken a downturn. Blackberry and Nokia both are experiencing lackluster sales. Blackberry slid from 11 percent of US sales to six percent in the last few months. Nokia has ceased being a presence in US sales, although they are attempting a new effort by joining up with Microsoft and their Windows Phone 7 platform. The results on that are waiting to be seen. Now that Apple is in the driver’s seat of sales, they do not seem to be changing their strategy. Smartphone sales will continue to climb. Look for Apple to continue their dominance of smartphone market share in the United States until something better comes along.
