The World's Most Profitable Handset Vendor in Q3 2009 Is Apple

Apple became the world’s most profitable handset vendor in Q3 2009, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, a global, independent research and consulting firm, headquartered in Boston, USA. The research showed that, as margins got hit hard by both the economic downturn and a stagnant presence in the United States, Nokia fell to second place.

“We estimate Apple’s operating profit for its iPhone handset division stood at $1.6 billion in the third quarter of 2009,” Alex Spektor, analyst at Strategy Analytics, said. “Apple overtook Nokia for the first time, which recorded a lower $1.1 billion of operating profit. With strong volumes, high wholesale prices and tight cost controls, the PC vendor has successfully broken into the mobile phone market in just two years.”

“Nokia’s profit margin for its handset division has been shrinking during the 2009 global economic downturn,” Neil Mawston, director of the Wireless Device Strategies service (WDS) at Strategy Analytics, added. “Strategy Analytics believes that the United States, where Nokia now trails Apple in marketshare, is the key to Nokia’s recovery in 2010. A successful fight on Apple’s high-profit home turf can simultaneously help to revitalize Nokia’s margins and to put a check on Apple’s surging growth.”

Titled “Apple Becomes World’s Most Profitable Handset Vendor in Q3 2009,” the full report is published by the Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Strategies (WDS) service, and can be found here.

Strategy Analytics began as Mackintosh Consultants, founded in 1968 by a member of Bell Labs and a group of electronics industry veterans, and focused on emerging digital technologies. The company is a leader in providing strategic and tactical support for business planners around the world, with over 30 years of experience and a focus on strategic and technological issues facing hi-tech companies and organizations.