Data Monday: Mobile Market Update

by June 7, 2010

The last set of data I published on what's happening in the mobile market was in February. Things are moving fast so it's time for an update.

  • Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totalled 314.7 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a 17 per cent increase from the same period in 2009, according to Gartner, Inc. Smarpthone sales to end users reached 54.3 million units, an increase of 48.7 per cent from the first quarter of 2009. (source)
  • Growth in the mobile devices market was driven by double-digit growth of smartphone sales in mature markets. Smartphones accounted for 17.3 per cent of all mobile handset sales in the first quarter of 2010, up from 13.6 per cent in the same period in 2009. (source)
  • As of Q1 2010, Nielsen data shows that 23% of mobile consumers now have a smartphone, up from just 16% in Q2 2009. Nationally, the iPhone's still in second place, with a 28% market share compared to RIM's 35% (Android has 9%; Windows Mobile has 19%). (source)
  • Apple's iPhone smartphone market share was 28 percent through the first quarter of 2010, more than tripling the 9 percent share garnered by Google's Android. (source)
  • 80% of iPhone users want their next device to run iPhone OS while 70% of Android users want another Android device. This is in stark comparison to other major smartphone players: only 47% of Blackberry users want another Blackberry while only 34% of Windows Mobile users want another Windows Mobile device. (source)
  • The rate at which Android users would like to try iPhone is twice as high as that of iPhone users who would try Android. Given that iPhone penetration is three times that of Android, more iPhone consumers are willing to try Android. (source)
  • 14% of mobile subscribers have downloaded an app in the last 30 days. (source)
  • Facebook, Google Maps and Weather Channel are the most popular apps across smartphones. iPhones: Facebook (58%), iTunes (48%), Google Maps (47%) Android: Google Maps (67%), Facebook (50%), Weather Channel (38%) Blackberry: Facebook (51%), Google Maps (34%), Weather Channel (28%) (source)
  • Nearly 5 million consumers downloaded the new Skype iPhone app in four days. (source)
  • eBay's iPhone app has been downloaded 10 million times, and the company expects $1.5 billion to $2 billion in transactions to be conducted using the mobile application this year. The eBay iPhone app was responsible for $600 million in volume last year. (source)

For more mobile data: view recent articles on metrics.