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        Windows Mobile gains share

        Eric Brown | Date: Sep 10, 2008 | Comments: 1


        Gartner reported a 15.7 percent rise in smartphone shipments in the second quarter compared to 2Q 2007. Windows Mobile outperformed the overall market, rising by 20.6 percent to more than 3.8 million units during the quarter, according to Gartner estimates.



        (Click here for a larger view of HTC's hot-selling Touch Diamond)

        Smartphone sales totaled 32.2 million units worldwide in 2Q 2008, with the segment's share of the total handset market remaining stable at 11 per cent, says Gartner. Despite a 22 percent increase in the first half of the year compared to 2H 2007, smartphone sales increased at a slower rate than in 2007, Gartner reports.

        "The current economic environment continues to negatively impact the market, limiting consumer spending and replacement purchases in general," stated Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner. However, she went on to state, "Wider availability of new touch smartphone models together with the global introduction of the iPhone 3G will help sales of smartphones return to stronger growth in the third quarter of 2008."

        Much of the lag was pegged to a slowdown in Asia, with Asia/Pacific declining 4.8 percent year over year and Japan's market dropping a whopping 24 percent. North American smartphone sales, meanwhile, increased 78.7 per cent. Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) grew 21 per cent.

        Company 2Q08 Sales 2Q08 Market Share (%) 2Q07 Sales 2Q07 Market Share (%) 2Q08- 2Q07 Growth (%)
        Symbian 18,405,057 57.1 18,273,255 65.6 0.7
        Research In Motion 5,594,159 17.4 2,471,200 8.9 126.4
        Microsoft Windows Mobile 3,873,622 12.0 3,212,222 11.5 20.6
        Linux 2,359,245 7.3 2,816,490 10.1 -16.2
        Mac OS X 892,503 2.8 270,000 1.0 230.6
        Palm OS 743,910 2.3 461,918 1.7 61.0
        Others 352,679 1.1 349,501 1.3 0.9
        Total 32,221,175 100.0 27,854,586 100.0 15.7

        Worldwide preliminary smartphone sales to end users by operating system, 2Q08 (units)
        (Source: Gartner)


        As seen in the table above, the big winner among smartphone operating systems was Mac OS X, with a 230.6 percent increase. Palm also gained share by a surprising 61 percent, apparently attributable mostly to the launch of its low-cost Centro.

        Windows Mobile, meanwhile, posted a healthy 20.6 growth rate, selling more than 3.8 million devices during the quarter. The operating system retained its third-place market share, behind only Research in Motion (RIM) and Symbian.

        RIM, meanwhile, increased 126.6 percent on the strength of its upgraded BlackBerry models. Symbian remained dominant with a 57.1 percent market share, but its growth was flat at under 1 percent, and it lost market share since 2Q 2007, when it represented 65.6 percent of the market.

        Unit shipments by vendor

        In handset unit sales by vendor, meanwhile, Nokia's Symbian-based smartphones led the way by far with 47.5 percent of the market, but showed only a modest 8.1 percent increase year over year. RIM and HTC showed the biggest increases among handset vendors, with 126.4 percent and 119.6 percent increases respectively. The other vendors mentioned include Fujitsu, which rose 22 percent, and Sharp, which plunged -41.6 percent year over year.

        Company 2Q08 Sales 2Q08 Market Share (%) 2Q07 Sales 2Q07 Market Share (%) 2Q08- 2Q07 Growth (%)
        Nokia 15,297,900 47.5 14,151,689 50.8 8.1
        Research In Motion 5,594,159 17.4 2,471,200 8.9 126.4
        HTC 1,330,825 4.1 605,900 2.2 119.6
        Sharp 1,328,090 4.1 2,275,401 8.2 -41.6
        Fujitsu 1,071,490 3.3 877,955 3.2 22.0
        Others 7,598,711 23.6 7,472,441 26.8 1.7
        Total 32,221,175 100.0 27,854,586 100.0 15.7
        Worldwide preliminary smartphone sales to end users by vendor, 2Q08 (units)
        (Source: Gartner)

        HTC, content to sell most of its phones under other people's brands until recently, is known as a prominent advocate of Windows Mobile, which it dresses up with its proprietary TouchFLO user interface. According to separate figures recently cited by Microsoft Mobile Communications Group Manager Scott Rockfeld on a Fox Business video, HTC has sold more than two million units of its Touch phone since the device's 2007 introduction.

        Meanwhile, Rockfeld claimed, HTC's Touch Diamond has sold more than one million units, mostly in Europe and Asia, since its introduction in June. The flagship phone made its belated U.S. debut just today via Sprint, with other carriers likely set to follow.

        Availability

        More information on the Gartner study may be found here.


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