Nokia recovering in US smart-phone market as Samsung growth continues

2011-08-18

With Microsoft’s assistance, Nokia can be expected to recover its recent market share losses in the US smart-phone market, while Samsung will make even stronger market share gains, according to the report ‘A Third Ecosystem in the US: Samsung still set for growth, but what role for WP7?’ from Strategy Analytics.

The Strategy Analytics Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) service predicts that Nokia’s smart-phone market share in the US can rebound to 10% by 2015, with strong marketing support from Microsoft. Samsung’s smartphone share is forecast to grow even more impressively, to 21%, over the next 4 years.

While Nokia embarks on its recovery in the US, Samsung’s operator relationships, existing overall handset share of 30% and proven experience with Android and Microsoft, all point to substantial smart-phone market share growth for the firm.

“Samsung has established a good track record in the US and is poised for further growth in smart-phone market share,” says WSS service director Tom Kang. “Samsung can also choose the best balance between Android and WP7 for its products,” he adds.

“Samsung can benefit from the enhanced WP7 ecosystem arising from the Microsoft/Nokia partnership in the US,” notes associate director Martin Bradley. “However, if Microsoft’s support to Nokia is highly effective in improving Nokia’s share, Samsung could consider a more targeted approach for WP7 within its portfolio,” he adds. “Microsoft marketing dollars can determine the economics of operating system choices for vendors in the WP7 ecosystem.”