According to The NPD Group, consumer sales of smartphones to U.S.
consumers reached 9 million units from January through July 2008 versus
the same time period last year - a year-over-year increase of 84
percent.
The consumer unit-sales ranking of smartphone manufacturers is as follows:
- RIM
- Apple
- Palm
- Samsung
- Motorola
Even as overall handset sales and revenues declined in the
U.S., smartphone revenue increased 71 percent - reaching nearly $1.7
billion. With the launch of Apple's iPhone 3G in July 2008, Apple leapt
to second in smartphone unit sales, behind RIM.
As a percentage of overall handset sales to consumers in the U.S.
from January through July 2008, smartphones represented 19 percent of
all handset purchases compared to just 9 percent for the same period
last year.
The average price of a smartphone sold between January and July 2008
was $185, down 7 percent from $199 during the same period last year.
"As they become inexpensive gateways to the Internet from practically
anywhere, smartphones are delivering a better consumer value than ever
before; however, more must be done to show the advantages of their
operating systems to keep them ahead of increasingly sophisticated
feature phones," Rubin said.
Even as the market reacted to the launch of Apple's iPhone 3G in
July, RIM and Palm both saw consumer unit-sales gains against the
competition in the first seven months of 2008 - posting growth of 24
percent and 9 percent (respectively).
Methodology: The NPD Group compiles and analyzes mobile device
sales data based on more than 150,000 completed online consumer
research surveys each month. Surveys are based on a nationally balanced
and demographically-representative sample, and results are projected to
represent the entire population of U.S. consumers. Note: Sales figures
do not include corporate/enterprise mobile phone sales.