The situation of Nokia is getting worse month after month, the Finnish giant losing supremacy on the Australian continent in front of those from Apple. In the first quarter of 2010, Nokia had a market share of 49.5% in Australia, but a year later this was halved to only 24.6%. Apple's market share increased from 18% in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010 to 31% in the first fiscal quarter of 2011, an impressive growth for a company that only has smartphones in its portfolio.
Its first quarter 2011 figures show that in just 12 months, Nokia has not only lost market dominance, its phone market share has halved: from 49.5 per cent in the first quarter of last year and 44.2 per cent in Q4, to just 24.6 per cent in the first quarter this year. Apple, meanwhile, is riding high with 31.4 percent of the overall mobile phone market share in Q1, up from 18.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, and close to 40 percent of the smartphone market. IDC said Apple had become the top mobile device vendor in Australia for the first time, with nearly one third market share. Despite a 5 percent year-on-year dip in the mobile phone market, iPhone shipments had soared 13 percent in a quarter.
Unfortunately, what is happening in Australia is happening globally, where Nokia is constantly losing percentages of its market share. The company recently launched the Nokia N9, a terminal equipped with the MeeGo operating system, which unfortunately will be the last of its kind, and many do not really understand Nokia's current strategy. From my point of view, Nokia must remain on the market, Nokia must continue to exist in order to maintain the competition between mobile platforms at a high level.
