The picture in Europe
The Western European mobile phone market grew 1.5 percent year on year to 43.3m units in 2Q10, mainly driven by the public's insatiable desire for smartphones, according to International Data Corporation's (IDC) Mobile Phone Tracker.
Smartphone shipments increased to 14.6m units, 60 percent up on last year's second quarter, to represent 34 percent of total shipments, compared with 28 percent in 1Q10. While perhaps unsurprisingly sales of traditional mobiles fell 14 percent since this time last year to 28.7 units from 33.5m a year before.
During Q2, sales of smartphones rocketed by 60 percent from last year's figures as 43.3m units were shipped to the region.
Mirroring sales in North America, Android led the growth in most Western European countries as shipments increased 450 percent year-on-year and market share jumped 4 percent in Q2 of 2009 to 15 percent in Q210. The growth spurt has let Android become the fourth biggest smartphone os, closing the gap on BlackBerry and iOS.
IDC predicts that Android will become the second biggest smartphone os in Western Europe by as early as the first quarter of 2011. The firm believes the popularity of devices from HTC, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung has contributed to strong awareness of Google's os.
"This quarter's growth was driven by smartphones, particularly Android devices. The 15 percent market share achieved by Android in the quarter is a very important milestone for the less-than-two-year-old Google operating system and shows that the OS is ramping up to become the second biggest operating system as soon as early 2011," said Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research manager at IDC.
In terms of the phones themselves, LG has been worst hit by the ailing sales of traditional phones as the price between smartphones and ‘feature' phones narrows. It suffered a 63 percent decline in its traditional phone sales due to a lack of replacement for its previously popular Cookie.
Sony Ericsson has regained its third position in terms of most popular phone vendor from LG, buoyed by its smartphone shipments which increased by an amazing 700 percent year-on-year. Its successful Android X10 smartphones helped put it ahead of LG which suffered froma lack of smartphone offering and falling sales of its traditional phones.
Here's a full breakdown of vendor sales figures.
Top Western European Mobile Phone Vendors, Total Shipments and Market Share, 2Q10 Smartphones and Traditional Phones (Units in Millions)
|
Vendor |
2Q10 Unit Shipments |
2Q10 Market Share |
2Q09 Unit Shipments |
2Q09 Market Share |
2Q10/2Q09 Change |
|
1. Nokia |
16.2 |
37% |
15.3 |
36% |
6% |
|
2. Samsung |
10.7 |
25% |
12.2 |
29% |
-12% |
|
3. Sony Ericsson |
3.9 |
9% |
5.1 |
12% |
-24% |
|
4. LG |
3.0 |
7% |
4.9 |
11% |
-39% |
|
5. Apple |
2.8 |
6% |
1.7 |
4% |
64% |
|
6. Research in Motion |
2.6 |
6% |
1.2 |
3% |
117% |
|
Others |
4.1 |
10% |
2.2 |
5% |
75% |
|
Total |
43.3 |
100% |
42.6 |
100% |
2% |
Source: IDC European Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, August 2010
