As per a research firm, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech ’s latest findings, Apple seems to be ceding ground to Android in Europe, especially the Western part of Europe. While Google’s free mobile computing platform of Android continues to dominate and consolidate the market share, Apple’s declining share could be a direct result of the tough economic conditions that are plaguing Europe at this point of time.
For the record, Apple IPhone’s share has increased in the United States of America and Great Britain. In the United States, Apple’s share has improved from 25 to 36 percent over the corresponding period ending in November last year. In Great Britain, the share improved from 21 percent to 31 percent over the corresponding period ending in November last year. However, in Spain, Italy, Germany and France, Apple’s share has taken some beating.
In France, Apple dropped from 29 to 21 percent share of the market and in Germany it took a drop from 27 to 22 percent. Android holds an impressive 61 percent market share in Germany.
While there is no clarity on the reasons behind dwindling sales of IPhones in Western Europe, there are reasons to correlate this drop with the tough economic conditions and the exorbitant pricing of the ‘Apple IPhone’ when you compare it against the finest Android phones on offer by Samsung. Add to this the fact that for a country like Germany, the improvement in Android’s market share could also be explained by the vast market potential of Android applications. We all know that Germany sees a lot of application development activity for mobile apps based on Android mobile computing platform. This could be a probable explanation for Germany’s love with Android, because the number and scope of Android apps has surpassed that of Apple due to a very high number of Android handsets in use across the globe.
Does this mean that Apple is losing out to Google? Well, yes, that could be a true statement and Android’s success also lies in the fact that more and more handset manufacturers are now making handsets that run on Android. In case of Apple, the handset is of a proprietary nature and the platform is a close-ended one, that requires substantial investment for app development as well. This has the potential to hurt Apple’s bottom-line over a long term. And this could be considered a similar case when you pit Yahoo against Google in the battle of search, that was eventually won by Google.
While a quarter’s statistics are not a reliable indicator of the major trends, it is likely that Apple will face tough competition in the United States after the launch of Amazon fire. All in all, Apple IPhone was launched as a niche product. Can it continue to be marketed as a niche product when Android handsets have a greater mass appeal? It is a game of numbers, after all. And, Android does have the right numbers on its side.
This tech post is written by Mike Long. Mike is a follower of IPhone, Android phone, handheld computers, and the latest Nokia Lumia phone. As the year comes to a close, Mike has covered some of the lesser known brands in mobile computing. One of these is the Micronet range of handhelds, that offer rugged functionality for in-vehicle deployments.
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