Apple Passes Nokia As World's Top Smartphone Vendor

[webfact]

Apple passes Nokia as world's top smartphone vendor

San Francisco - Android, Shmandroid. A new industry report has underlined the dominance of Apple's iPhone in the smartphone sector, identifying the cult device as the top selling smartphone in the world, and Apple as the world's biggest smartphone seller.

The report by research firm Strategy Analytics highlighted Nokia's stone-like plummet from the pinnacle of the smartphone world as it failed to jump on the Android bandwagon or develop its own Symbian and Meego operating systems as viable alternatives.

According to the report Nokia's second quarter smartphone sales dropped to 16.7 million units from 23.8 million units a year earlier while Apple's sales jumped from 8.4 million units to 20.3 million.

The figures were released a day after widespread reports suggested that Apple's 76-billion-dollar cash stockpile was now larger than the cash held by the US government - according to the US Treasury's estimate of its 73.768 billion dollar operating balance.

With Apple's share price breaking the 400-dollar mark this week for the first time, and the company closing in on Exxon Mobile as the world's most valuable corporation, much of the reason for its stunning success was reflected in the latest smartphone figures.

Google's Android operating system is by far the most popular worldwide with an estimated 46-per-cent share of best global smartphone shipments, according to ABI Research.

While this is far higher than Apple's estimated 18.5-per-cent market share, the difference is that the Android sales are spread over numerous manufacturers, while Apple is the only company that makes and sells the iPhone.

According to Strategy Analytics, Apple's iPhone sales have more than doubled in the past year, to 20.3 million in the third quarter, when it registered the 18.5-per-cent market share. This puts it just ahead of Samsung, whose smartphone sales rose by 519 per cent from 3.1million to 19.2 million - the vast majority of them Android phones- for a market share of 17.5 million units.

"Apple's growth remained strong as it expanded distribution worldwide, particularly in China and Asia," noted Alex Spektor, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics.

Their strong growth allowed both Apple and Samsung to overtake Nokia, the ailing Finnish phone giant which saw its smartphone share slip from 38.1 per cent to just 15.2 per cent. Nokia is still the leader in the world market for mobile phones, but it still saw its share plummet from 33.8 per cent to 24.2 per cent, with Samsung breathing down its neck with a market share of 19.2 per cent.

According to a study by market research firm Asymco on Friday Apple's unique position means that it has now captured 66 per cent of the profits mase in the last quarter by mobile phone manufacturers, followed by Samsung with 15 per cent.

-- The Nation 2011-07-30

[FarangBuddha]

The iPhone may be the "top selling" smart-phone and currently has the most phones in use but in terms of smart-phone platform, Android is kicking Apple's butt! There are way more Android smart-phones sold than Apple/iOS phones and the total number of Android phones in use is quickly catching up to Apple phones (Apple is ahead because of their 1-2 year head start in this market).

[lomatopo]

Apple passes Uncle Sam!

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-apple-cash-20110730,0,6198166.story

Apple has more cash than the U.S. Treasury

Apple is sitting on a pile of money that's bigger than the Treasury's dwindling balance.

It’s not terribly likely that the government will ask Apple CEO Steve Jobs for a bailout, but the company does have a lot of money. (David Paul Morris, Bloomberg / July 30, 2011)

July 29, 2011, 9:10 p.m.

Apple Inc. may not have more money than God. But it's got more cash than Uncle Sam. As the government struggled to reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling, the U.S. Treasury's cash balance fell to $74 billion this week. That's less than the $76 billion that Apple now has in cash.

...

At about $362 billion, Apple is the second-largest company in the world by market value (behind Exxon Mobil Corp. at $395 billion) — big by any standard, but still far smaller than the U.S. government, which will spend close to $3.8 trillion this year, 10 times what Apple is worth.

[nikster]

The iPhone may be the "top selling" smart-phone and currently has the most phones in use but in terms of smart-phone platform, Android is kicking Apple's butt! There are way more Android smart-phones sold than Apple/iOS phones and the total number of Android phones in use is quickly catching up to Apple phones (Apple is ahead because of their 1-2 year head start in this market).

No question Android is doing well. Who is first doesn't really matter now does it? I think it's clear Android and iOS are going to duke it out for the foreseeable future.

Apple has this to say: In phones, the iPhone sells more than any other (20M iPhones last quarter vs 5M Samsung SG2 - this with a 1 year old model, and considering the SG2 is Samsung's best-selling-ever phone. Android phones are all cheaper than the iPhone. Those that cost the same sell nothing. I think the SG2 is 19k baht? Vs 24k for the iPhone 4 16.

In operating systems iOS has 200M installed devices - iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad. Android has something like 100M.

Just too bad Nokia's gone down the toilet. Elop and his WP7 plan were just the last nail in the coffin.