Apple's iPhone is broadening it's strong position in the US and capturing substantial marketshare in Europe and Japan. Rumours that Apple has sold 5 million iPhones to a Chinese carrier in preparation for a launch in that massive market are yet to be confirmed:

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/08/18/canalys_q2_smartphone_sales/

Apple second only to Nokia in Euro smartphone biz

Wins big globally

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

18th August 2009 10:04 GMT

Apple has overtaken Research in Motion in the race to be Europe's top smartphone seller, figures from market watcher Canalys show.

During Q2, Apple shifted 1.9m iPhones in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, up from 200,000 in Q2 2008. That took its market share from 1.3 per cent to 13.6 per cent, enough to put it just ahead of Rim, which came out of Q2 2009 with a share of 10.3 per cent.

Rim sold 1.4m BlackBerries in the quarter, up from 900,000 a year ago, still big growth in anyone's book.

Both firms have a way to go to challenge Nokia, which sold 8.9m smartphones in EMEA last quarter for a market share of 64 per cent. But the Finnish phone giant's share is being eroded: it was down 7.2 percentage points between Q2 2009 and Q2 2008, when it sold 9m smartphones. The bulk of Rim and Apple gains came at the expense of other firms.

In North America, Rim was ahead of Apple with a 52 per cent share to the iPhone's 23.3 per cent. HTC made a small third-place showing with a share of just 5.6 per cent. It and everyone else saw its share decline - Apple and Rim both commanded a greater share of the market than they did a year ago.

Nokia, absent from the North America top three, lead the pack in Asia Pacific with a 59.7 per cent share of the market, up from 50.6 per cent in the year-ago quarter. Second- and third-placed Sharp and Fujitsu both saw sales and share dip.

Worldwide, Nokia, RIM and Apple took the top three slots in Q2, achieving smartphone market shares of 44.3, 20.9 and 13.7 per cent, respectively. Nokia's share was down year on year, from 45.5 per cent, while the other two companies enjoyed increased market share, from 16.7 per cent (Rim) and 2.1 per cent (Apple).

The success seen by Apple and Rim pushed Windows Mobile's share of the smartphone operating system market below ten per cent for the first time in ages, falling from 14.3 per cent to just nine per cent of the market. Symbian, the market leader, saw its share slip from 58.2 per cent to 50.3 per cent.

Google's Android took 2.8 per cent, up from zero a year ago, but not enough to pass the 'others' category, on 3.3 per cent. It almost certainly will do so in the coming quarters, we say.

Perhaps more remarkable is the news that the iPhone 3GS is currently the number one mobile phone in Japan. It's very rare for imported electronics to top the charts in Japan. Sadly, this article doesn't give any specific numbers, so we don't know if Apple is the biggest hardware vendor or if a more diverse product line leaves some other manufacturer on top in Japan:

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/08/18/apple_iphone_big_in_japan/

The iPhone 3GS was the top-selling mobile phone in Japan last month, figures from market watcher GfK show.

The Japanese mobile market is very different from those in the West. Over there, mobile net access has long been taken for granted, local phone makers are favoured and Japanese definitions of what makes a good handset don't match up with Westerners' ideas.

The list of top-ten phones contains only one brand we over here would consider major: Sony Ericsson. Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG and HTC don't make the list at all.

So it's a testament to the iPhone UI that Japanese buyers lifted it above popular offerings from Sharp, Panasonic, NEC and Casio.

The best-selling phone was the 32GB 3GS - the 16GB model came in ninth place. GfK said the 3GS sold twice as quickly as the 3G did last year.

Still, July was the 3GS' launch month and may have coincided with a general downturn in Japanese handset sales. Further months figures will be required to see whether Apple's success was a one-off or is a sign that it has become a major player in Japan.

Well congrats to apple for taking over the market.

As this article noted, Apple's success in Japan is the most remarkable piece of information. Apple have done an excellent job.

Iphone is the DS killer

It doesn't state that Apple has taken over the world. Just that it was #1 in certain areas for a small amount of time. For a better discussion, look at the section that states that, worldwide, Apple only sold 13.7% of the smartphone marketshare, which was less than RIM at 20.1% and Nokia at 45.5%. Apple has a very long way to go for marketshare, but they are doing very well.

People forget that Apple is a relative newcomer to both the smartphone market, and phones in general. They command

Oh, and I forgot to mention that, according to NPD, the iTunes music store now has 25% of all music sales in the US, and 69% of all online music sales.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/08/18/apple_itunes_us_digital_music_champ/

And I wouldn't call the iPhone a DS killer, but I do wonder if Iwata is going to start being more reluctant to show his off.

This is a great success for Apple.

famousringo said: Oh, and I forgot to mention that, according to NPD, the iTunes music store now has 25% of all music sales in the US, and 69% of all online music sales. And I wouldn't call the iPhone a DS killer, but I do wonder if Iwata is going to start being more reluctant to show his off.

I don't think the iPhone is a DS killer, but the rise of the Smartphone is. And 10 years from now, they will be the DS2 killer.

I, along with a few other VGC-ers are working on producing market reports for smartphone gaming in the near future. It's a very interesting market, and it's growing at a frantic pace. The iPhone gaming market is larger than any of the consoles' downloadable gaming services (XBLA, PSN, WiiWare/VC), and it's done it in a matter of 1 year. Thats just 1 service among 3 phones that share a tiny sliver of the mobile phone market. The overall phone market download service (that's games, apps, ringtones, and other such things) is valuated at >$100 billion USD - twice that of gaming.

For example, The Sims 3 has become a million-selling game on the iPhone in just 1 month. That's very indicative of the power smartphones have. As phones become more de-balkanized with fewer operating systems (with OSX, Android, Symbian, WinMo and RIM being major players), we'll see more and more gaming sales, as phones have easier one-shot solutions that developers can back more commonly. 

I argue with TheSource about it all the time on IM. I'm a firm believer in the fact that smartphones will rival handhelds in both marketshare and revenue in 10 years - kind of in the same way we see PC and consoles fighting (as well as consoles/PCs fighting portable devices like the DS/PSP and laptop/netbooks).

At least for myself, I find using my phone for gaming a bit more convenient than my DS, because I always have my phone on me. The games have similar graphical qualities. Once the market matures, and we see bigger better games, it's going to be a great market to buy games on.

I might even get one, considering that they're only $99.

mrstickball said: famousringo said: Oh, and I forgot to mention that, according to NPD, the iTunes music store now has 25% of all music sales in the US, and 69% of all online music sales. And I wouldn't call the iPhone a DS killer, but I do wonder if Iwata is going to start being more reluctant to show his off. I don't think the iPhone is a DS killer, but the rise of the Smartphone is. And 10 years from now, they will be the DS2 killer. I, along with a few other VGC-ers are working on producing market reports for smartphone gaming in the near future. It's a very interesting market, and it's growing at a frantic pace. The iPhone gaming market is larger than any of the consoles' downloadable gaming services (XBLA, PSN, WiiWare/VC), and it's done it in a matter of 1 year. Thats just 1 service among 3 phones that share a tiny sliver of the mobile phone market. The overall phone market download service (that's games, apps, ringtones, and other such things) is valuated at >$100 billion USD - twice that of gaming. For example, The Sims 3 has become a million-selling game on the iPhone in just 1 month. That's very indicative of the power smartphones have. As phones become more de-balkanized with fewer operating systems (with OSX, Android, Symbian, WinMo and RIM being major players), we'll see more and more gaming sales, as phones have easier one-shot solutions that developers can back more commonly.  I argue with TheSource about it all the time on IM. I'm a firm believer in the fact that smartphones will rival handhelds in both marketshare and revenue in 10 years - kind of in the same way we see PC and consoles fighting (as well as consoles/PCs fighting portable devices like the DS/PSP and laptop/netbooks). At least for myself, I find using my phone for gaming a bit more convenient than my DS, because I always have my phone on me. The games have similar graphical qualities. Once the market matures, and we see bigger better games, it's going to be a great market to buy games on.

The PC vs. console comparison is apt, but I think handheld vs. smartphone could be even more intense. It's easy to have a PC in your office and a console in your living room, but it's a little silly to have a phone in one pocket and a handheld in the other.

That phone download market is sickeningly huge. I'll bet half of it is ringtones, too. I find the idea of paid ringtones extremely baffling, but money is where you find a market.

I'm especially glad that Apple is proving ditigal distribution to be not just viable, but extremely lucrative. There are so many resources to be saved if people can just be convinced to let go of their physical artifacts. And publishers of all kinds of content could save a lot in costs if they weren't so terrified of changing their business model.