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Apple tops Nokia for smartphone market share in Western Europe

By: , IntoMobile
Friday, May 6th, 2011 at 8:39 AM
Apple CEO Steve Jobs demonstrates the new iPhone 4 during his appearance at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco

Apple is slowly-but-surely rising to greater heights worldwide as it just took Nokia for its top spot in smartphone market share in western Europe. The shift is significant because that is Nokia’s stomping grounds. If there is any name in mobile technology trusted and respected in that part of the world, it’s Nokia. However, without a smartphone that can compete with the iPhone, the Finnish company has slipped 40.6 percent market share in western Europe to just 19.6 in a single year. The iPhone also fell from 24.6 to 20.8, but that puts it just above Nokia’s numbers.

Additionally, other manufacturers are shipping more devices than ever before to Europe. According to IDC via Electronista:

RIM shipped more BlackBerry phones to Europe than before, 3.5 million, but the climb wasn’t enough to stop it from dropping to third place at 16.5 percent. Android’s rapid rise, meanwhile, helped HTC more than double its share and tie with RIM. Samsung’s Galaxy S almost single-handedly helped catapult the company from just 2.5 percent of European smartphones last year to 12.1 percent in early 2011.

Nokia’s hope against the onslaught of BlackBerry devices, Android and the iPhone might have to come in the form of new Windows Phone 7 devices. With Microsoft’s backing, Nokia could regain some of its lost market share. And also with Windows Phone 7, perhaps the smartphone maker can start making a dent in the U.S. market, the market where it has really had no presence at all the past five years.

[Via: Electronista, photo]

About The Author

Marc Flores

Marc has been a mobile fanatic for the better part of a decade and has had more devices pass through his hands than he would care to count. Originally from Los Angeles and briefly in San Francisco, Marc now lives in Brooklyn where, unlike Will Park, he longs for simpler times and simpler technology. All the while, he writes about gadgets and wireless technology as he tinkers, hacks and ultimately breaks most of his gadgets in the process. Marc has written about the mobile industry for Boy Genius Report, MobileCrunch, Laptop Magazine and has had his work appear in the Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo, CrunchGear and more.

  • Anonymous

    Wow Nokias downfall has been so dramatic. I cant believe how presumptuous Nokia have been all these years, a real business lesson to us all Im sure.

    • Anonymous

      Yeah, going from 40% to 19% in a single year must have been super rough and a little deflating. There are some good people working at Nokia, so I can only imagine how they must feel.

      • Anonymous

        i only on
        western Europe market,

        nokia global market is still in first

        • Anonymous

          err did you read the title of the post?;)

  • Anonymous

    That’s amazing, it’s only a matter of time until the rest of their global share falls too. What disastrous performance.

  • http://www.tomasha.com/mobile-softwares/ Mobile Softwares

    Yes u r right apple going to upwards slowly day by day….i’m sure that after some time Apple will take the place of Nokia worldwide…..

  • Anonymous

    Nokia will not be introducing a Windows Phone 7 based device.  The whole exercise is based upon accelerating the development of the OS through the alliance.  If the Nokia comes in 4Q11 this year, it will be WP 7.X or WP 8. For Nokia’s sake, the WP OS needs to support features its fans have become accustomed, to include: USB On-The-Go, Pentaband 3G, wireless file management, customizable themes/fonts/icons/ringtones, etc.