Some industry analysts think the Verizon iPhone, due next month, is about to put the brakes on Android growth in the US, reports “ars technica” (http://macte.ch/BJO1W). They say the reason Android has seen so much success in the mass market wasn’t because of Android’s strengths, but because it was available on more networks than the iPhone, the article adds.
“A lot of people who bought Android phones were buying it in lieu of an iPhone because they couldn’t get one on the Verizon network,” Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf has told clients. “Where the iPhone will have a dramatic impact is on the brand choices of feature phone users migrating to smartphones going forward. The iPhone will suck the wind out of Android’s growth on Verizon.”
Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu told clients that the iPhone being available on the top two US carriers will be “the first true test for Android whether its share gains are real or just a temporary phenomenon due to weak competition from BlackBerry, Windows, webOS, Nokia, and others.”
RBC Capital Markets Managing Director Mike Abramsky told clients — as noted by “BGR” (http://macte.ch/SpWsB) that he expects Apple to sell three million Verizon iPhones in the second quarter, with unit sales totaling 9-10 million in the calendar year. Based on the addition of the Verizon iPhone and strong demand for the rumored iPhone 5, RBC estimates that Apple will sell 70 million iPhones in the 2011 calendar year. That’s 19% of the estimated global smartphone market.
Meanwhile, a T-Mobile spokesperson told “The Seattle Times” (http://macte.ch/sICsM) that “we would be interested in offering the iPhone, but ultimately it is Apple’s decision.”
— Dennis Sellers