Symbian gyveth, Android taketh away in Europe, says mobile phone market research

posted by Daniel P. / Sep 13, 2011, 8:56 AM

Symbian gyveth, Android taketh away in Europe, says mobile phone market research

Nokia's Symbian handsets still hold the largest market share in Europe, with 37.8% of all smartphones there, but it's a far cry from the 53.9% it enjoyed just a lousy year ago.

These 16.1% Nokia's market share diminished with, have gone almost point-for-point to Android handsets. The little green robot pumped up its share in the five major European markets - UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain - with 16.2%, going from 6.1% to 22.3% of the market.

If this is a precursor of things to come in Nokia's other stronghold - Asia - things are not looking well for Espoo. The Finns better start rolling those Symbian Belle phones and Symbian updates as soon as possible, as well as out the Nokia Windows Phone campaigns with a lot of marketing cash behind them to stave off the market share slump.

Top Smartphone Platforms in EU5 by Share of Smartphone Users* 3 Month Average Ending July 2011 vs. July 2010 Total EU5 (DE, FR, IT, ES and UK) Mobile Subscribers, Age 13+
Smartphone Platform	Share (%) of EU5 Smartphone Users
Smartphone Platform	Jul-10	Jul-11	Point Change
Total Smartphone Users	100.00%	100.0%	0.0
Symbian	53.9%	37.8%	-16.1
Google	6.0%	22.3%	16.2
Apple	19.0%	20.3%	1.2
RIM	8.0%	9.4%	1.5
Microsoft	11.5%	6.7%	-4.8

Another interesting observation is that Apple's smartphone growth has been more modest than RIM's in those five major EU countries, rising 1.2% vs RIM's 1.5% increase in market share. Waiting it out for the next iPhone might be the culprit here, as much as Microsoft's transition to a brand new mobile OS might have been the reason for its big slump from 11.5% in July of last year, to 6.7% market share this summer.

source: comScore via mocoNews

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8 Comments

1. Tmachaveli

Posts: 425; Member since: Apr 01, 2011

No need to say anything..it ust keeps moving along

posted on Sep 13, 2011, 9:42 AM 1

2. snowgator

Posts: 3616; Member since: Jan 19, 2011

Ugh. Nokia is not in a position of power here. But, name recognition counts. There has to be a sense of urgency, but once they start pumping out W7 devices they said they will have at least a new one every couple months. Tango is being developed just for lower end devices, which will help provide for great user experience cheaply. It is not like Android is going away, but Nokia can fight back if it gets it's act going.

posted on Sep 13, 2011, 9:43 AM 0

3. remixfa

Posts: 14605; Member since: Dec 19, 2008

i think its interesting to note that android want from last place to 2nd place in a year. Thats impressive for lil ol Lloyd. lol

posted on Sep 13, 2011, 10:12 AM 2

4. Droid_X_Doug

Posts: 5993; Member since: Dec 22, 2010

And it seems that Android's growth has been fueled by customers leaving Nokia. I wonder if anyone on Nokia's board of directors is having second thoughts about going all-in on WP7? They should be. I guess worst-case, Nokia can down-size and live off licensing deals from their patent portfolio.

posted on Sep 13, 2011, 11:08 AM 0

5. temp unregistered

phonearena is the only website go and search news about apple & good. It is a website for android and ios lovers. come on you cant leave all other manufacturers. Microsoft has released it's newest version of WP os and have you reviewed it? just wanted to know because i'm unsure of your review. But when sammy releases or htc release latest version of android you go and dig the history, come here and posting it. Don't stick to one or two, you have to review something beyond these two for other lovers. thanks

posted on Sep 13, 2011, 11:39 AM 0

6. Lawrence unregistered

Apple market share has peaked so now they can only sue others. RIM growing faster than iPhone shows fan boys know nothing.

posted on Sep 13, 2011, 12:48 PM 0

7. dandirk

Posts: 187; Member since: Aug 04, 2011

While we will truely see Apple vs Google in the US the coming months (since iphone/iOS will be on most carriers)... I wonder if Apple's slowing marketshare is due to its release cycle (once a year) or a limitation on carriers, models etc? iphone 5 anticipation??? There HAS to be a reason other then "@pple sux0rz"(being sarcastic, apple fans don't hang me), I won't buy an Apple product but I know they are better then a 1.2% increase.