Nowhere to hide
Coinciding with Nokia's new corporate approach to handsets, market researcher IDC has published its report on the Western European mobile phone market in Q1, and it doesn't make good reading for the Finnish giant.
While Nokia retained its number one spot in smartphone and total handset shipments, it is losing market share rapidly. Its struggles in the smartphone market are well documented, it it will have been affected by the greater proportion of the total handset market taken by smartphones. But it looks like Nokia is also starting to lose ground in regular phones too.
Smartphone sales jumped 57 percent year-on-year to 12 million units, meaning they now account for 28 percent of total shipments in Western Europe. Conversely sales of feature phones declined by four percent.
The double bad news for Nokia is that, while its smartphone share suffered a massive drop from 57.1 percent to 40.8 percent, it actually suffered a fall in the number of feature phones it sold and is in danger of losing the overall number one spot to Samsung in Western Europe, having already been relegated into second place in feature phones by the Korean electronics giant.
"The first quarter is traditionally tough for phone makers as operators clear out old stock from the previous holiday season," said Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research manager at IDC. "Still, operators are more cautious when launching new models and committing to high volumes, which drives more efficiency to their stock management policies and lower volumes to clear out after peak sales seasons."
"But last year's first quarter was the worst quarter ever for the mobile phone industry in the region, which makes this year's growth less expressive. On the other hand, the surge in smartphones also bolstered market growth at this time of the year."
Top Western European Mobile Phone Vendors, Total Shipments and Market Share, 1Q10 (Units in Millions)
|
Vendor |
1Q10 Unit Shipments |
1Q10 Market Share |
1Q09 Unit Shipments |
1Q09 Market Share |
1Q10/1Q09 Change |
|
1. Nokia |
14.0 |
32.8% |
15.4 |
39.0% |
-9% |
|
2. Samsung |
12.5 |
29.3% |
10.6 |
26.8% |
18% |
|
3. LG |
4.1 |
9.6% |
3.5 |
8.9% |
17% |
|
4. Sony Ericsson |
3.7 |
8.7% |
5.9 |
14.9% |
-37% |
|
5. Apple |
3.0 |
7.0% |
0.9 |
2.3% |
233% |
|
6. Research in Motion |
2.4 |
5.6% |
1.1 |
2.8% |
118% |
|
Others |
3.0 |
7.0% |
2.1 |
5.3% |
43% |
|
Total |
42.7 |
100% |
39.5 |
100% |
8% |
Top Western European Mobile Phone Vendors, Smartphone Shipments and Market Share, 1Q10 (Units in Millions)
|
Vendor |
1Q10 Unit Shipments |
1Q10 Market Share |
1Q09 Unit Shipments |
1Q09 Market Share |
1Q10/1Q09 Change |
|
1. Nokia |
4.9 |
40.8% |
4.4 |
57.1% |
11% |
|
2. Apple |
3.0 |
25.0% |
0.9 |
11.7% |
233% |
|
3. Research in Motion |
2.4 |
20.0% |
1.1 |
14.3% |
118% |
|
4. HTC |
0.9 |
7.5% |
0.4 |
5.2% |
125% |
|
5. Samsung |
0.3 |
2.5% |
0.4 |
5.2% |
-25% |
|
6. Motorola |
0.2 |
1.7% |
0.1 |
1.3% |
100% |
|
Others |
0.3 |
2.5% |
0.4 |
5.2% |
-25% |
|
Total |
12.0 |
100% |
7.7 |
100% |
8% |
Source: IDC European Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, June 2010
Note: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.
