During a three-month period ending July 2013, there was a shift in smartphone sales between Android and iOS when compared to the same three-month period in 2012. Android lost 7.6-percent, down to 51.1-percent of the smartphones sold, while iOS gained 7.8-percent to capture 43.4-percent of the market share according to a study done by Kantar Worldpanel Com Tech.
During the same period, there was little movement among BlackBerry, Windows, and others. BlackBerry declined slightly to only 1.2-percent of the market share, and Windows grew slightly to capture 3.5-percent of the sales.
Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Global Strategic Insight Director, Dominic Sunnebo states:
Android’s decline in sales is due to its decreasing share of first-time smartphone buyers, a key consumer group in the US, as over half of the market still own a feature phone. Between July 2011 and July 2012, 52% of customers that bought an Android device previously owned a feature phone. Over this past year, that number has declined to 46%.
Sales of Apple’s iPhone 4 have grown from a 9-percent share in 2012 to 15-percent in 2013, while the iPhone 5 is their current flagship phone. With the newest iPhone 5S being released soon, Apple has offered bargain prices on the iPhone 4, with some carriers giving them away if you sign a two-year contract, so this would certainly justify some of the jump in sales.
There is also the age factor that has helped Apple – first-time smartphone buyers tend to be older, in fact, 65-percent of first-time buyers are over 35. Gender is also an important factor as 56-percent of first-time buyers are female – and both of these groups tend to go with Apple, especially with the older, discounted models that help make up these sales figures.
The study also claims to watch out for the Microsoft/Nokia merger regarding first-time buyers:
However, with Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia, we may see a larger proportion of consumers choosing a Windows device over iOS or Android…Windows has shown, in the past, particular strength among first-time smartphone buyers, and Nokia has benefited the most from the OS growth thus far.
The study concludes that Android is having trouble capturing the first-time buyer and that is why their sales have declined, and half the cellphone customers are still using feature phones, and as more and more of them make the switch to smartphones, their sales may continue to decline. I know many users on Facebook, websites, and people I know have the attitude that Android is too hard to learn, just buy an Apple, they’re easy to learn and they work…certainly enough to scare off the 40 or 50 year old that is already terrified to get a smartphone.
So get the word out…Android is easy to use and let’s get some of those first-time buyers into our fold.