In Once Nokia Corp. was the undisputed leader of the mobile handset market, now it has the third position, behind Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. The struggles of Nokia in the highly competitive smartphone market are clearly highlighted in the new data released by market research firm Strategy Analytics.
Apple's share of the smartphone market rose to 18.5% in the second quarter from 13.5% a year earlier, while Samsung's smartphone market share jumped to 17.5% from 5.0%, the researcher said in a statement. Nokia saw its share of the market slip to 15.2% from 38.1% a year earlier.
This report comes on the heels of Nokia reporting a sharp net loss of more than $500 million for the its second quarter last week. Earlier this week, Nokias debt rating has been downgraded by two notches by Moodys Investors Service Inc. Much of Nokias woes stem from the fact that its Symbian OS has proved to unpopular with customers.
The company announced, earlier this year, its new strategy of launching phones based on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows. Neil Mawston, director of Strategy Analytics, says Samsung's Galaxy portfolio has proven popular, especially the high-tier S2 Android model.
The strategy of adopting Googles Android OS has paid off handsomely for Samsung. The company gained more ground in the second quarter with handset shipments reaching an estimated 19.2 million, up from 3.1 million a year earlier, the researcher said.
But based on the estimate, Samsung has surpassed Nokia's 16.7 million units. Apple sold 20.3 million smartphones in the second quarter. In the report, senior analyst Alex Spektor, has said, Apple's growth remained strong as it expanded distribution networks world-wide, particularly in China and Asia.
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