iPhone closes the gap with Nokia, RIM
In the global race for smartphone domination, the relative fortunes of RIM and Nokia continue to falter and stagnate, respectively, as the iPhone’s share of the market surged 60 percent year-over-year. With the emphasis on mobile apps and games, Apple’s in the driver seat with the addition of the fast selling iPad being the company’s ace in the development hole going forward.
Seattle PI, quoting fresh IDC data for the first quarter, reports that Apple’s share of the global smartphone market stands at 16.1 versus 10.9 percent last year. RIM’s Blackberry saw its share of the rapidly expanding smartphone market (up 57 percent year-over-year) decline from 20.9 percent to 19.4 percent.
Although Nokia is still the world leader with a 39.3 percent, flat year-over-year, the smartphone maker isn’t competitive in the U.S. where RIM and Apple together command nearly 60 percent of the market.
For its part, despite a huge amount of Android-related buzz with a near doubling of its unit volume last year, Motorola remains an also ran in the smartphone market with a 4.2 percent share in the first quarter.
A lost cause?
Thereupon, with Apple holding what can be realistically thought of as a 100 percent share of the tablet category, the company is once again stealing a march on its smartphone competitors by creating a whole new category of complementary devices that leverage its already heady lead in app delivery and ecosystem development.
Clearly, despite their greater shares of the market, Nokia and RIM are still playing catch up. With the iPad out and selling strongly, do they stand any change of ever leveling the playing field?
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