Analyst: Apple and Samsung continue to have a tight hold on the mobile market

Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt recently surveyed 300 people in the middle of this month, and found that the mobile market in the U.S. is controlled by Apple and Samsung. Nothing new there, right? But one of the more interesting things that McCourt did discover is that while the public's awareness of Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 has doubled since September, only 3.5% of those surveyed plan on buying a Windows Phone 8 handset while a slightly more respectable 6.6% said that they will buy a Windows 8 powered tablet.

McCourt found that Apple is losing a little bit of momentum, while Samsung is picking up steam. Nearly every question related to the Apple iPhone produced weaker responses in December than in September or June. But responses to the Apple iPad showed "no signs of competitors impacting Apple’s hold on the tablet market." The study found that the Apple iPad remains the dominant name in the tablet market with 58% of those looking to buy a tablet, stating their preference for an iPad. Twice as many of those plan on purchasing the Apple iPad mini instead of the full-sized version of the tablet.

Despite the drop off in momentum for the model, a whopping 86% of Apple iPhone users plan on sticking with the device when they buy their next phone, which is higher than the 75% figure for Android. On the other hand, fewer Android users say that they will switch to iOS. 3.5% said they plan on buying a Nokia Lumia model, up from the 1.8% found in September's survey. While the analyst said that this figure was too low to call the readings an "uptrend," he did note that those saying that they would switch to a Nokia Lumia model were all currently using an Android powered phone.

Speaking of the green robot, while 32% of Android owners in the survey owned a Samsung Galaxy handset, 56% have it in mind to make it their next phone. Based on the survey, that would equate to a 35% drop in demand for Samsung's Android competition. Not a good stat for LG, Motorola, HTC and other Android manufacturers. McCourt also found that most BlackBerry users (67%) plan on leaving the platform and those leaving are evenly split between iOS and Android. The remaining 33% will be the ones that RIM will have to impress at first with BlackBerry 10.

The bottom line, says the analyst, is that the Apple/Samsung duopoly continues to have a stranglehold of the U.S. mobile market. Anyone shocked to hear that?

source: Forbes