iPhone OS X jumped to 4th place, while Windows Mobile maintained 3rd place in 2008
Gartner just released their 2008 Smartphone sales estimate this week. On a device manufacturer basis Apple came in 3rd place behind Nokia and Research In Motion (RIM). On an Operating System basis, Apple's OS X came in 4th behind Microsoft's Windows Mobile. Nokia's Symbian was 1st and RIM's Blackberry OS was 2nd.
The interesting number in Gartner's report is the growth between 2007 and 2008 worldwide market share:
- The Symbian 2007 market share was 63.5 %, and 2008 was 52.4%; a decrease of 11.1 points, a 17% loss.
- The Blackberry OS 2007 market share was 9.6% and 2008 was 16.6%; an increase of 7 points, a 73% increase.
- The Windows Mobile OS 2007 market share was 12% and 2008 was 11.8%; a decrease of .2 points, a 2% loss.
- The OS X 2007 market share was 2.7% and 2008 was 8.2%; an increase of 5.5 points, a 204% increase.
My take on these numbers is that the real race is between the Blackberry OS and OS X, while Symbian and Windows Mobile have the most to lose. The questions for 2009 will be whether Apple can break the Blackberry corporate hold with their 3.0 release (March 17th SDK announcement), is Microsoft's slide real or just a blip, and will Palm make a miraculous comeback with the Pre.
As with any statistics you can view the numbers in many different ways and come up with your own conclusions.
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