NPD: Apple passes RIM, Motorola to become third largest phone seller in U.S.

By on Apr 28, 2011 at 3:04 PM
mobile April 28, 2011

NPD is reporting that Apple has surpassed Research In Motion and Motorola to become the third largest mobile phone vendor in the United States. Apple now holds a 14% share of the market behind LG with 18% and Samsung with 23%. “Apple and Verizon had a very successful launch of the iPhone 4, which allowed the iPhone to expand its market share that was previously held back by its prolonged carrier exclusivity with AT&T,” said NPD’s executive director of industry analysis, Ross Rubin. “While some of that growth came at the expense of Android operating system, Android models still accounted for half of all smartphones sold in the quarter.” Last quarter also marked the first time that U.S. consumers purchased more smartphones than not; 54% of phone purchasers ended up with phones of a higher intelligence. The iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, Motorola DROID X, HTC EVO 4G, and HTC DROID Incredible were the top five smartphones purchased in the States from January to March.

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36 Comments

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  • Commenteer

    Ha . Droid continues to doesn’t .

    • Yes_iHave_a_iPhone

      Ha. Wow super orignal where did you hear that one? Haha. You must be a comedian, im assuming you downloaded that joke from the App Store for $1.99, and you just bought your white iPhone.

    • anDROIDfan

      What really yanks my chain is that the iphone 3gs, a nearly 2 year old phone is still outselling the latest DROID phones. I just don’t get it.

      • http://twitter.com/SingSyon Jona Sy

        @anDROIDfan It’s selling well because AT&T has a big commercial campaign, featuring it on sale for $49.

      • Wow.

        It is actually really easy to understand.

        People are clueless sheep and want what is in. Apple productions have become a fashion symbol and are “cool” to have. It doesn’t matter how they perform, just as long as they have that coveted Apple logo on their device to go along with their cup of Starbucks and their skinny jeans.

        Bottom line? People buy it because of the logo, nothing else.

      • Anonymous

        whoops, wrong reply.

      • Anonymous

        Or they just want something that works and works well. Not something that is running a choppy laggy buggy half baked version of android 1.6,1.8.2.1,2.2 or 2.3. My imac has a apple logo on it did I get it cause it was cool. Nope Grow up loser.

  • http://www.droiddoes.com/ Norm

    Yaaaaawwwwnn. DROID still has the greatest market share. Move along. Nothing to see here.

    • Yes_iHave_a_iPhone

      You’ve inspired me to be everything opposite of you

      • anDROIDfan

        I think Norm rocks!

      • http://twitter.com/MrKow84 Kyle

        I bet he’s got candy in his van if you wanna go with him…

    • JJD

      Ask yourself: As a company would you rather have the greater market share or greater profits?

      • http://twitter.com/AKIIRASAN Anthony A

        the only people really interested in this type of information are investors and traders. everyone else doesnt really understand what they are reading and when they see a headline they just use it to say “my phone is cooler than yours because lots of people buy it.”

        but definitely profits and future growth are most important. market share doesnt mean squat when you dont make money.

      • http://www.searingarrow.com AlienSix

        As a company, Id like to have both honestly

  • Anonymous

    Younger cats tend to want an iPhone or an Android based phone, its just more fun…RIM is for ya daddy, even tho mine has iPhone.

    • RIMsucks

      I love watching RIM slip slowing into oblivion.

      • anDROIDfan

        Why? Did RIM take some adverse action against you or yours?

      • RIMsucks

        Ya. I used their shitty ass curve 8900 which was outdated before it hit the shelves. Now I am using a shitty ass bold 9700 with the worst browser ever. Company phones of course I would never buy a crap RIM product.

      • Anonymous

        Why? I don’t understand you folks that root against an entire company.

    • Senor Chang

      Nah, there’s no age limit here. I know plenty of people between ages 20 – 40 with iPhones, and have seen a creepy old friend of my mom’s with one (like a 60 year old dude), another one of her coworkers has an Iphone 3GS (also in her 60s) and plenty of other of my own older co-workers toting them around as well.

      Its genuinely a popularity contest when it comes to mass consumers. The older folks are jumping on iPhone because they feel its youthful and hip. it would be more accurate to say there are more old people w/ iPhones than old people w/ Android handsets.

  • Joel

    But… But… It’s all about market share..

  • Anonymous

    They should rename this site. Andrew you’re on a roll today. I bet you’re in Apple heaven right now.

  • Bringit

    Everybody wants one.

    • Senor Chang

      eh, no. Not everyone does.

      • Bringit

        No really, everyone.

  • Max

    AAwww Nooo. You mean RIM job is losing market share? Whoulda thunk?

  • http://twitter.com/MrKow84 Kyle

    this is no surprise.

  • Anonymous

    let me BBM all my friends to stop switching

  • Senor Chang

    i don’t think some of you fandroids are really using your reading skill abilities.

    Let me simplify: Apple done went from #5 to #3.

    Got it? did you read the article and see who still holds #1 and #2? Hmm… now what kind of mobile OS is #1 most associated with? Hmmmm….

    Also… did you notice this was about mobile phones in general and NOT JUST smartphones?

    But really… its not surprising. after blowing their load on the Razr, it would make sense that Moto backed off and concentrated on fewer handsets… fewer handsets, but most are smartphones now.

    Consider the volume of feature/dumb phones that carriers give away for free by the bucketload, I’m surprised RIM was even in the top 5.

  • QNX Please

    Poor RIM, better get QNX out soon on your phones, or you’ll end up like Nokia in North America.

  • http://twitter.com/AKIIRASAN Anthony A

    oh this is in the US and only for the last quarter. i see.

    • Anonymous

      And it doesn’t include Google, the largest phone maker in the world and of course, the most awesomest company in the world!!!!!

  • Anonymous

    Is it just me, or do different groups release different statements placing different companies in the lead every week or two?

  • Anonymous

    BOOYAH!!!

  • Anonymous

    To put this perspective this is practicatly ONE phone in a close third place behind companies that make WAY more than ONE phone!!

  • Anonymous

    Not a comment, but a question. When you get cellphone service for an iPhone you are required to get a contract that includes fairly expensive data service. Is that typically required for all “smartphone” models that use Android, webOS, and RIM? The question is not entirely crazy since wifi could be used for data access if you are in range of an open wifi router. For Apple the right product for this is the iPod touch but I am not aware of similar devices for other OS’s.

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