Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple, iPhone
Apple iPhone closing in on BlackBerry market share
Paul Carton, Director of Research at ChangeWave Research, reported yesterday at investorplace.com that Apple iPhone is gaining steadily on BlackBerry's market share, a great feat considering BlackBerry's entrenched position in the business sector. iPhone market share is now a heady 30%, still behind BlackBerry's 40%, but RIM products are not gaining new users at nearly the same rate. As for Palm? Well, the Pre seems to have leveled out the free fall, but there's nothing terribly encouraging about the data. My guess is they are still pining for those halcyon days of 2006 when Palm was king.
The smartphone market itself is rising; according to Mr. Carton's research, a full 39% of consumers now own some kind of smartphone. Compare that with last summer, when the smartphone market was just cracking 25%.
The good news for Apple is that RIM's stranglehold on the smartphone market appears to be loosening, and with so many consumers still to reach, Apple has the momentum. CNNMoney.com characterized Apple's market gains as putting Apple within "striking distance" of BlackBerry. What's driving the momentum? Customer satisfaction. Among those who plan to buy a smartphone within the next 90 days, 36% plan to buy an iPhone. And among current users, fully 73% of them are satisfied with the device, compared with only 43% of BlackBerry users.
Mr. Carton notes that BlackBerry is planning product launches this year, and Apple has already released the 3GS. If Apple holds true to its history, we won't see a significant upgrade to the phone until next June. Either way, Apple has carved itself out quite a niche and the iPhone can no longer be dismissed as a toy to BlackBerry's business device.
The smartphone market itself is rising; according to Mr. Carton's research, a full 39% of consumers now own some kind of smartphone. Compare that with last summer, when the smartphone market was just cracking 25%.
The good news for Apple is that RIM's stranglehold on the smartphone market appears to be loosening, and with so many consumers still to reach, Apple has the momentum. CNNMoney.com characterized Apple's market gains as putting Apple within "striking distance" of BlackBerry. What's driving the momentum? Customer satisfaction. Among those who plan to buy a smartphone within the next 90 days, 36% plan to buy an iPhone. And among current users, fully 73% of them are satisfied with the device, compared with only 43% of BlackBerry users.
Mr. Carton notes that BlackBerry is planning product launches this year, and Apple has already released the 3GS. If Apple holds true to its history, we won't see a significant upgrade to the phone until next June. Either way, Apple has carved itself out quite a niche and the iPhone can no longer be dismissed as a toy to BlackBerry's business device.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Monica said 5:09PM on 10-28-2009
I don't think this was every any surprise. For a long as I can remember people who were supporting Blackberry would do so by saying its serious and for business. But its become very obvious that most people don't really care about business as much as they do about simple dumb fun. If the companies, Google included don't get it, iPhone will pass them up real quick. And for no other reason then the 10,000 fart apps that people can't get enough of.
Monica S
Los Angeles Computer Repair
http://www.sebecomputercare.com
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Tyr said 5:46PM on 10-28-2009
I like how the smart phone explosion chart closely mirrors the iphone's meteoric rise. That spells trouble for all those people throwing themselves on the expanding smart phone market because most of these people own a smart phone because they like the iphone, not the other way around.
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fatback said 5:54PM on 10-28-2009
"and the iPhone can no longer be dismissed as a toy to BlackBerry's business device."
uh, yes it can.
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Andrew T. said 6:32PM on 10-28-2009
Yeah, never really got that remark. If this was a study or stat backing up that iPhone's are making a huge push in the enterprise market fine but this is just smartphones in general and it's no big surprise that the iPhone has mass commercial appeal. iPhone a fun smartphone? Yes, probably the best in that regard. For enterprise? I don't think so, I think many would stick to a BlackBerry.
Until Apple actually start to focus on the business side, the iPhone will always be inferior to the BlackBerry.
recharged95 said 7:31PM on 10-28-2009
When you need 3G, WiFi and 3+ DAY battery life, yes, the iPhone looks like a toy.
Otherwise, the business market was/is tapped out (i.e. everyone had a BB or a Palm), hence the iPhone opened the market for smartphone 'toys' and it's reach a point w/ActiveSync than BB users can have their business needs (email) and toy all in one.
Wayne Bienek said 6:07PM on 10-28-2009
Certainly not a toy.
Whoopee Blackberry does email well. Big deal. It sure doesn't do RDP well (getting into your server.. think PCAnywhere..) nor does it do a TON of other high end administration tasks as well as an Iphone.. An Iphone is a computer in your pocket (and when you jailbreak it.. takes less then 10 secs w/ the free program you can easily find online.. it multi-tasks, free wifi (think miFi) tether, etc) I have the cash and ability to have any tool/tools/phones I want.. and the 3gs is simply the best. Period. And Im not talking about games, email or phone.. but the REALY heavy duty remote computer needs.. (remote ftp web page / php editing, rdp.. etc..) Blackberry blows nuts at trying to do remote database administration, maintenance etc.
It (Blackberry) too is amateur hour.
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q said 6:13PM on 10-28-2009
Be careful talking about the jailbroken mulitasking solution. It's really not all that.
recharged95 said 7:34PM on 10-28-2009
Funny, you need a 3GS, most devs can do all the things your talking about (VPN, wftp, SSH, VNC, etc...) on any Android phone... any one.
And try editing a PHP page on a iPhone vs. a G1 with a **physical keyboard**: day and night difference.
CHRiS said 11:40PM on 10-28-2009
@recharged95
yeah, your right, I have both a G1, and an iPhone, night and day it is... G1 physical keyboard really does suck (well I also have the Palm Pre, and its not as bad as that thing, but still in comparison, sucks, so much I use the G1's virtual keyboard) --- I love how I can blast away typing and have my words auto corrected on the iPhone.. most people who knock it hasn't tried the keyboard more than a few days or even more than a few weeks (for the slow learners), hell if I gave up on a new keyboard like people are griping about the iPhone's KB, I sure in the hell wouldn't have used my blackberry keyboard for more than 2 minutes (anyone who is new to a blackberry keyboard will soon find out what I mean, everyone else already knows and went through the pain)... anyway, the iPhone keyboard is FAR FAR less pain and learning curve.
Once you've used the iPhone with remote capabilities like logmein and how it differs from basic VNC programs, you won't want to go back.
Wayne Bienek said 9:36PM on 10-28-2009
im not opposed to android..the 'Hardware' I think is better looking (When they get a more powerful proc, its a consideration.. but only IF it has good editing tools.. what program for Android does RDP (*not* vnc)? .. see, I think this is one of those 'useless' 100k apps.. There are SEVERAL for the iphone..
And multitasking works very well.. Task switching isnt the most elegant as a Pre, but it does work well.. I run my GPS tracking to track my runs while Im doing other things..
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Wayne Bienek said 9:40PM on 10-28-2009
Update.. there are several Android RDP programs... My bad.. Im spoilt w/ the 'app store' which makes finding things super easy.. Android is in fact quietly coming from behind..
The REAL asset Apple has is the 100 million credit cards on file where any of those 'customers' can click and buy and the CC info is already on file..
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etwashoo5 said 12:56AM on 10-29-2009
Last I checked, Nokia had 49% of the smart phone market and everybody else was far behind. Was this a study of "others?"
BTW, my money is on Android.
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BigC said 5:21AM on 10-29-2009
"RIM's stranglehold on the smartphone market"?? I had to read this twice until I remembered that TUAW is a American site. Therefore, the rest of the planet is an irrelevance. What about the 50% of the smartphone market that's dominated by Symbian (and mainly Nokia). The figures don't seem to make room for them......
I'm not saying the figures are wrong, lets just put them in context.
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Charlotte said 8:35AM on 10-29-2009
Perceptions have a lot to do with it - advertising is alive and well, yet people are also getting the opportunity to try both devises so it'll come down to usability or the best customer experience. I'm a Blackberry girl myself, but some people just love the iPhone! http://www.foviance.com/what-we-think/why-i-love-my-iphone/
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rachel said 4:31PM on 10-29-2009
The lines of consumer and employee continue to blur (as do the lines
of work/life, what is this "balance" I hear about?) and IT
organizations are pressured from the bottom up to loosen policies and
support Mac and as a business tool. Call it "consumerization of IT",
call it what you will - people are tired of having a Mac experience
at home only to come to the office and be boxed into the traditional
IT-defined constraints. The users are taking over and we are now
seeing this parlay to smartphones. "I want something that works the
way I want, let's me be productive and connected in ways I like to
work and interact with the world... give me an iPhone IT!"
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Chris said 11:52AM on 11-02-2009
I think this is actually a VERY positive finding for RIM. Who knew that the leader (by far) in the Enterprise smartphone market, also was the leader in the consumer smartphone market. Maybe Changewave can update their Coporate numbers alongside these Consumer numbers to show us market share there. The only thing I have is from 1 year ago.
http://www.intomobile.com/2008/11/20/apple-iphone-3g-outpaces-palm-to-no-2-corporate-smartphone-spot.html
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PhotoGuru said 11:51PM on 11-03-2009
sure I'm biased, but I don't get the Blackberry thing- my wife has one, and the buttons are half the size of tic-tacs, the OS is basic, boring, and not that great to navigate, and the screen resolution stinks. Catch'em iPhone.
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