iPhone in Europe: Low Market Share, High Impact

iPhone 4, the latest version of Apple's highly-popular mobile device, has just been put on sale in various markets around Europe, with impressive pre-order levels, and with great expectations for the first day of availability. The launch of iPhone 4 builds on the success its predecessors enjoyed and, since there have been three of them, comScore decided to take a closer look at how they stand on the market against other smartphones and operating systems.

According to the first, the iPhone accounts only for 4 percent of the mobile phone market in the EU5 (U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy), though it enjoys 18 percent of the smartphone market in these countries. However, the iPhone should be looked at from a different angle, concerning the changes it brought to user behavior. Although only 12 percent of all mobile media users (due to the 4 percent market share iPhone enjoys in Europe), 94 percent iPhone owners use mobile media, 87 percent use applications and 85 percent of them browse the Internet.

“The iPhone 4 is set to have a huge impact globally with pre-order handsets selling out and retailing websites buckling under the pressure,” said Jeremy Copp, Vice President Mobile Europe, comScore. “To date the iPhone has had a disproportionate impact on the European mobile market considering its relatively modest installed base of around 10 million. It has catalysed the consumption of mobile media and opened the eyes of brands to mobile as an engaging marketing medium. However, it has also prompted other device manufacturers and OS vendors to elevate their game so the poster-child of the smartphone generation now faces serious competition.”

According to comScore, the European smartphone market is growing rapidly. The segment enjoys an increase of around 38 percent on a yearly basis. However, during the last 12 months, the Symbian OS, dominant on the market, has started to lose market share to operating systems like BlackBerry, iPhone OS or Android.

“Google’s Android is most certainly the one to watch,” added Jeremy Copp. “It has gained about 1.7 million users in a very short period of time and now accounts for 3 percent of the European smartphone market. Crucially, Android user mobile media consumption is very high – slightly behind but comparable to that of Apple. 89 percent use mobile media, 78 percent applications and 83 percent browse the mobile internet. The Droids are coming and current demand for the iPhone 4 implies a titanic battle between Apple and Google is imminent.”