While there is a lot of talk about Android and how dominant a force it is in smartphones (hey, I love mine!), there is one thing people sometimes seem to forget: Android isn’t a phone. So while the Android OS is doing very well and some of the handset makers are also doing well, there is one company who makes a single phone on two carriers that is beating all of them – including the former #1 handset maker Nokia! That company is Apple.
Here is some of the press release:
Apple Inc. overtook Finland’s Nokia Corp. to claim the top spot in handset revenue in the first quarter, when Apple racked up record sales of its iPhone, according to research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics Inc.
Alex Spektor, a senior analyst at Strategy Analytics said in a statement issued by the firm that Strategy Analytics estimates that Apple’s wholesale revenue for its iPhone handset division hit $11.9 billion in the first quarter, passing Nokia for the first time. Nokia had first quarter handset revenue of $9.4 billion, Spektor said.
“With strong volumes and high wholesale prices, the PC vendor [Apple] has successfully captured revenue leadership of the total handset market in less than four years,” Spektor said.
“In revenue terms, Apple is now the world’s largest handset vendor, smartphone vendor and tablet vendor,” said Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics. Mawston said Apple’s proprietary ecosystem of hardware, software and services has proven wildly popular and hugely profitable, but warned that rivals are chasing hard, particularly the Android vendor community. Strategy Analytics estimates that the global base of Android smartphones will eclipse Apple’s by the end of 2011.
“Nokia is also investing heavily with Microsoft and Apple will be a key target for them next year,” Mawston said.
It is amazing to look at the numbers and see Nokia selling five times as many phones, and yet coming in 20% lower in quarterly earnings. As noted in the comments it seems clear that Samsung and LG are in the #3 and 4 slots, and Samsung in particular has been doing very well with Android phones and should be a challenger for top position soon. Motorola, in spite of making stuff I love, has had some major flops lately (Xoom and Atrix) and apparently their mobile line is at risk financially.
Source: EETimes
