Apple sees important iOS market share gains in Europe and China, as others delayed purchases for iPhone 6
Apple has never worried about gaining or maintaining market share, and data from a new Kantar Worldpanel survey isn’t going to change this. The results are somewhat interesting nonetheless.
Through the end of September 2014, iOS market share has dropped in the United States and Japan. At the same time, Apple saw encouraging gains in Australia, China, and parts of Europe.
Year over year, iOS market share in the U.S. now stands at 32.6 percent, a loss of 3.3 percent. In Japan, Apple’s mobile OS shrank 15.9 percent to 31.3 percent.
Notable gains are as follows:
- Australia, up 2.1 percent to 34.7 percent
- China, up 1.4 percent to 15.2 percent
- Germany, up 1.1 percent to 11.8 percent
- Great Britain, up 1.7 percent to 31 percent
- Spain, up 1.5 percent to 6.3 percent
According to Dominic Sunnebo, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech:
Apple regained ground in the first quarter of 2014, primarily due to the strong performance of the iPhone 5S, growing its sales share in Europe, Japan and Australia. By contrast, Windows had a tough start to the year as a result of its entry-level Nokia models facing fierce competition from low-end Motorola, LG and Samsung Android smartphones.
Numbers from the U.S. and Japan really shouldn’t come as a surprise since the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus didn’t launched until the end of September. Rising percentages in other countries over the same time period is an encouraging sign, especially in areas like China where Apple’s market penetration remains low.
I would expect that we’ll see gains across the board for iOS when Kantar’s next survey is released in January. Those numbers will reflect iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales in the all-important holiday quarter.
See also: Apple wants to push NFC technology beyond Apple Pay, Apple’s iPhone 6 set to be big hit in Samsung’s home turf of South Korea, and Sprint will soon offer an ‘iPhone for Life’ plan which includes yearly upgrades.
Via: TechCrunch