By Heather McLeanThe Western European mobile phone market grew 5% year on year, to 45 million units in the first quarter of 2011, according to IDC’s European Mobile Phone Tracker.
During the quarter, Samsung shipments increased 5.3% year on year, to 13.2 million units, and became the biggest mobile phone maker in the region with 29.3% marketshare.
Nokia shipments dropped 10.3% year on year to 12.6 million units, and it is now the second player with 27.9% marketshare.
In the smartphones segment, Apple shipments increased 48.9% year on year to 4.4 million units, and it became the biggest player with 20.8% market share. Nokia comes in second with 19.6% marketshare.
“Samsung and Apple achieved outstanding milestones this quarter in the region. Samsung became the biggest mobile phone vendor in Western Europe and Apple the biggest smartphone vendor,” noted Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research manager, IDC.
“These results show how volatile this market is and how important it is not to underestimate the trends. Companies like Nokia (and Ericsson in the past) may have strong brands and big market shares as Nokia always had, but can be overtaken by their competitors on a blink of an eye,” said Jeronimo.
“Nokia is one of the most recognised and appreciated brands in Europe, but Samsung was the one understanding the trends first and moving faster. Samsung understood early the trend on touchscreen devices and became the market leader on feature phones, by providing a full range of devices at very competitive prices.
“On smartphones Samsung has quickly moved to Android as well as invests on its own platform, Bada,” Jeronimo added. “Flexibility and to address all market segments have contributed to quickly adjust to the market trends. Apple, on the other hand, coming from nowhere in the mobile phone business, capitalised on its strong brand and user experience innovation. It took years to competitors to come up with devices that could challenge consumers’ preference for the iPhone.”
During the quarter smartphones shipments increased 76% year on year to 21.2 million units, to represent 47% of total mobile phone shipments. Android was the smartphones operating system leader with 35.7% marketshare.
Those vendors focusing mainly on Android have notably been improving their market positions on smartphones, which shows how successfully this OS attracts consumers to smartphones, driving manufacturers’ sales, said Jeronimo. Second comes iOS with 20.8% marketshare due the popularity of the iPhone. Symbian slipped to third place with 20.5% market share.
For smartphone and feature phone shipments and marketshare in Western Europe, following Samsung at the top and Nokia and Apple a close second and third, RIM came in fourth with 1Q shipments of 3.5 million, marketshare at 7.8%, up a massive 48% year on year, and HTC came in fifth with figures identical to RIM with 1Q shipments of 3.5 million also, marketshare at 7.8%, up an even huger 271% year on year.
On smartphones alone, after Apple at number one, Nokia 1Q shipments were 4.2 million, marketshare at 19.6%, down 15% year on year, RIM was third with 1Q shipments of 3.5 million, marketshare at 16.5%, up 48% year on year, HTC came in fourth with 1Q shipments of 3.5 million, marketshare at 16.5%, up 271% year on year, and Samsung is in fifth place with 1Q shipments of 2.6 million, marketshare at 12.1%, up an enormous 744% year on year
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