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Apple iPhone Sales Data Starts to Embarrass Competition

Friday, December 14th, 2007 at 2:45 PM - by

The accumulation of sales data and web browsing statistics to date indicates that Apple's iPhone sales success is starting to embarrass the competition in the U.S., according to Daniel Dilger at Roughly Drafted on Friday.

"In its first full quarter of sales, the iPhone has already climbed past Microsoft’s entire lineup of Windows Mobile smartphones in North America, according to figures compiled by Canalys and published by Symbian, wrote Mr. Dilger. The iPhone remains behind only the BlackBerry in the U.S. The figures are supported by additional data from NPD which shows the iPhone with 27% of 3Q sales of smartphones in the U.S.

Curiously, Symbian, which has been publishing numbers showing that it leads smartphone sales worldwide stopped publishing data when the iPhone launched.

The numbers are more embarrassing, however, for Microsoft. "The most recent market share numbers are particularly embarrassing for Microsoft, especially after CEO Steve Ballmer announced in January that Apple wouldn’t capture more than two to three percent of the market and described his own Windows Mobile platform as having or soon acquiring 60 to 80% of the smartphone market," Mr. Dilger noted.

To make matters worse, the Symbian and WindowCE systems are reported by Mr. Dilger as aging, difficult to work with, and poorly regarded. Also, while some had hoped that Google's Android would take a bite out of the iPhone, the strategic positioning of Android has turned out to adversely affect everyone but Apple.

The analysis by Mr. Dilger is noteworthy for the work done in compiling sales numbers, presenting it in readable pie charts, and analyzing the mobile phone markets and vendor prospects both in the U.S. and worldwide.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Dec 14, 2007 10:23 pm

I love this line...

"The iPhone’s browser is likely over represented in web stats compared to its installed base because it works well enough to actually use."

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Wings said:

member since 30 Mar 2004 with 89 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sat Dec 15, 2007 7:16 am

More than anyone else, that guy Dan Dilger really does have his act together. While his articles do contain ample commentary, it's always backed up by the cold hard facts. No one out there presents their articles in such a professional manner. He should teach journalism.

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A guest said: (hide)

Sat Dec 15, 2007 7:33 am

What he failed to mention though, is that you can get more done on the Windows based phone that you can on the iPhone. And that it has more IT market penetration and is accepted by more systems operators. AND will run on any telco, not just the ones that have specialized servers. Once the novelty factor wears off the positive numbers will fall and the more useful phone and its OS will surface. Apple and its selfish ways will hang themselves on this one.

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A guest said: (hide)

Sat Dec 15, 2007 11:44 am

^

For the iPhone to be "only on one telco" and such, why is it pwning the competition as stated in this article?

Novelty factor? Why the hell is everyone trying to copy the iPhone then?

You're full of crap. Go back to Redmond.

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A guest said: (hide)

Sat Dec 15, 2007 11:45 am

Guest wrote:
What he failed to mention though, is that you can get more done on the Windows based phone that you can on the iPhone. And that it has more IT market penetration and is accepted by more systems operators. AND will run on any telco, not just the ones that have specialized servers. Once the novelty factor wears off the positive numbers will fall and the more useful phone and its OS will surface. Apple and its selfish ways will hang themselves on this one.

You're full of s#!t pal.

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Sir Harry Flashman said:

member since 08 Feb 2007 with 792 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Sat Dec 15, 2007 12:00 pm

I found this quote to be interesting; "The WinCE operating system behind Windows Mobile is also poorly regarded", there maybe a reason why you "wince" when you use "WinCE."

Also this one; "While 3G networks are faster, the web browsing experience isn’t better if pages are actually rendered slower on a smaller screen. Across the board the iPhone downloaded and completed page rendering seconds faster than 3G competition, and presented a web page that looked like a web page, not an awkwardly zoomed document hiding behind a tiny window."

Soon Apple will release the iPhone SDK and you will be able get even more business done on an iPhone than on the clumsy competitive devices that are mired in the La Brea Tar Pit

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A guest said: (hide)

Sat Dec 15, 2007 1:04 pm

Guest wrote:
What he failed to mention though, is that you can get more done on the Windows based phone that you can on the iPhone. And that it has more IT market penetration and is accepted by more systems operators. AND will run on any telco, not just the ones that have specialized servers. Once the novelty factor wears off the positive numbers will fall and the more useful phone and its OS will surface. Apple and its selfish ways will hang themselves on this one.

Um, sure. So Apple is selfish because...Verison didn't want to get on board and make a significant capital expenditure to handle visual voice mail, etc. so Apple linked with ATT? Pairing with capable providers is exactly what a smart business does. And what exactly "More" are you getting done on your Windows phone; editing Word/Excel/Powerpoint? on a 2.5" screen, yeah that's really time well spent. And remember it's MS who hasn't made an iPhone compatible version of Office, not Apple. As a WinPhone user you're so productive and rational, and all those iPhone people are just in a trance over the novelty of it all. Uh huh.

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Intruder said:

member since 07 Jul 2004 with 3149 posts, TMO Mac Specialist, send him a message or view his profile

Sat Dec 15, 2007 1:39 pm

Anonymous wrote:
What he failed to mention though, is that you can get more done on the Windows based phone that you can on the iPhone. And that it has more IT market penetration and is accepted by more systems operators. AND will run on any telco, not just the ones that have specialized servers. Once the novelty factor wears off the positive numbers will fall and the more useful phone and its OS will surface. Apple and its selfish ways will hang themselves on this one.

Ahhh, farmerbob sniping anonymously again.

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A guest said: (hide)

Sat Dec 15, 2007 9:59 pm

If Apple really wanted to give the iPhone the capability to edit Word and Excel docs on the iPhone, all they would have to do is intergrate Pages and Numbers compatibility into it. viable solution without MS's help, and perfectly doable.

Besides, I honestly think that the supposed "more market penetration" of WM is just wishfull thinking on the part of Windows apologists. Blackberry is the clear leader in the enterprise sector, and Apple won't need long at all to supplant WM's position in that market.

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A guest said: (hide)

Mon Dec 17, 2007 4:33 pm

Guest wrote:
Once the novelty factor wears off the positive numbers will fall and the more useful phone and its OS will surface. Apple and its selfish ways will hang themselves on this one.

You mean kinda like the iPod vs Zune?

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