According to ComScore’s mobiLens survey of Smartphone users, RIM has lost 1.8 Million of its US subscribers to other platforms, despite the new BlackBerry OS 7 phones out in the market. The loss represents 10% of BlackBerry users in the US in June. RIM’s share of smartphones sold in the last 3 months has dropped from 7.9% in June to 7.1%.
Other stats show that the number of people over age 13 owning a smartphone grew by 12% to 87.4million up from 78 million in June. This means 9.4million smartphones were sold in the last 3 months. The report also suggests that RIM’s share of the smartphone market fell from 23.5% to 18.9%. That’s where the 1.8 million users come from.
The highest beneficiary to this was Google’s Android. Android went from 40.2% of installed smartphone base to 44.8% at RIM’s Expense. The survey also suggests there are now 39 million Android-running smartphones in the US.
Apple’s iPhone numbers grew in the US, despite a slowdown in worldwide sales. Apple gained 3.2 million users between June and September, and has a total of 24 million users. In general, Android grew by 24.8% between June and September,Apple grew by 15.4%, RIM dropped by 10%, while Microsoft grew its own share by 8.1% now with a base of 4.9m subscribers. The figures however do not distinguish between Windows Mobile and Windows Phone Nokia’s Symbian gained 10,000 users.
On the manufacturer side, Samsung dominated with a share of 25.3% in June and September in sales of smartphones and feature phones.
These stats mean RIM is on a tough run. We’ve seen RIM’s share price decline over the last months, lacklustre sales of the PlayBook have resulted in a ‘Buy 2 Get One Free’ offer and reports have shown Staples plans to sell the PlayBook at $199 on Black Friday.
Hopefully RIM can take advantage of sales increase in Africa, especially Nigeria and South Africa where there’s a craze for its BlackBerry smartphones. Although the numbers in Nigeria recently crossed 1 million, RIM still faces competition from Nokia: the reigning champion of Nigeria’s phone markets in the past decade.
Source: Guardian UK
Tags : android, apple, blackberry, Microsoft, mobile, nokia, RIM, Samsung, smartphone showdown, smartphones, Windows Phone 7
