When Apple first announced the iPhone nearly a year ago, there were a few nay-sayers—among them Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmber—who dismissed the product outright, claiming the iPhone had “no chance” and would only capture a market share in the low single digits. Those predictions seem to have been a bit premature: new smartphone sales figures compiled by Canalys and published without fanfare by Symbian show that the iPhone captured 27 percent of the smartphone market during the third quarter of 2007. The figures put the iPhone ahead of everything except RIM‘s BlackBerry line…and ahead of the sales figures for all Windows Mobile devices combined.
The iPhone’s impressive second place finish during the third quarter of 2007 (ending in September—the iPhone’s first full quarter of availability) may be more impressive since the iPhone wasn’t yet on sale in markets outside the United States. The device has since gone on sale in the UK, France, and Germany. Canalys’s sales figures align closely with similar mobile device sales numbers published by the NPD Group.
The Apple iPhone has been downplayed by some industry watchers as a consumer-friendly device that would never be accepted by corporations and enterprises; however, a solid debut in second place amongst smartphone sales may cause some analysts to rethink their assessments—especially those who predicted the smartphone market would be dominated by Windows Mobile. Apple is also working to improve the iPhone’s story, with a developer SDK due in 2008 and persistent rumors of improved integration with Microsoft’s Exchange server technology.
