Android maintains Euro dominance
…by attracting first time smartphone consumers
The latest data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows that for the first time Android has taken at least half of smartphone sales across Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, US and Australia.* Android’s share now ranges from 49.6% in Italy to a massive 84.1% in Spain.
Dominic Sunnebo, consumer insight director, explains: “We are seeing much of the Android sales growth being driven by consumers trading up from feature phones to smartphones. Android handsets currently offer an easier platform to enable these consumers to upgrade, as many first time smartphone consumers state ‘price of handset’ and ‘multimedia capabilities’ as their main reason for choosing an Android device. Our data shows that Android has a higher share of those consumers spending under £50 on buying their handset across the vast majority of countries we cover.”
In markets like the UK, smartphone penetration in the prepay market is increasing, with Android handsets such as the Samsung Galaxy Ace and Y performing well. These models are attracting younger first time owners, a group who have traditionally been loyal to BlackBerry.
Dominic adds: “It’s important to understand the added value that these first time smartphone consumers bring to carriers and brands. When consumers trade-up from a feature phone, they spend significantly more on their bills and on buying their device. The increase in monthly bill becomes even more important to the carriers, when we consider that most mobile contracts have a 24 month minimum term.
“Smartphone consumers are much more loyal to their brand of handset and carrier than feature phone consumers, highlighting the importance of capturing feature phone owners when they are starting to look to change their handset.
“It’s also interesting to note that although Android’s share is high in the USA market, it has decreased by 6.8% points over the year. This trend contrasts Apple’s growth, which is a reflection of a successful iPhone 4S release and the first time availability of the iPhone 4 and 4S on Sprint.”
About Kantar Worldpanel ComTech’s Smartphone OS market share data
Kantar Worldpanel ComTech’s smartphone OS market share data provides the media and businesses with access to the most up to date sales market share figures for the major smartphone OS.
This information is based on the research extracted from the Kantar Worldpanel ComTech global consumer panel. ComTech is the largest continuous research consumer mobile phone tracking panel of its kind in the world, conducting over 1 million interviews per year in Europe alone. ComTech tracks mobile phone behaviour,including purchasing of phones, mobile phone bills/airtime, source of purchase and phone usage and delivers beyond market share tracking to understand drivers of share changes, market dynamics through consumer insight – the data included in this release is excluding enterprise sales
AboutKantar Worldpanel
Kantar Worldpanel is the world leader in consumer knowledge and insights based on continuous consumer panels. Its High Definition Inspiration™ approach combines market monitoring, advanced analytics and tailored market research solutions to deliver both the big picture and the fine detail that inspire successful actions by its clients. Kantar Worldpanel’s expertise about what people buy or use – and why – has become the market currency for brand owners, retailers, market analysts and government organisations globally.
With over 60 years’ experience, a team of 3,000, and services covering more than 50 countries directly or through partners, Kantar Worldpanel delivers High Definition Inspiration™ in fields as diverse as FMCG, impulse products, fashion, baby, telecommunications and entertainment, among many others.
For further information, please visit us at www.kantarworldpanel.com and follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/KWP_ComTech
About Kantar
Kantar is one of the world’s largest insight, information and consultancy groups. By uniting the diverse talents of its 13 specialist companies, the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and inspirational insights for the global business community. Its 28,500 employees work across 100 countries and across the whole spectrum ofresearch and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group’s services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies.
For further information, please visit us at www.kantar.com
