Tag: mobile phones

Top 10 Mobile Phones in August 2009

On 09/09/2009

In 1

With what seems a month taken off for summer vacation (at least there was no list available), Swedish phone accessory maker Krusell has again provided us with their top 10 list of mobile phones for the last month. As you probably know by now, they are measuring this by looking at handset-specific accessory sales.

So here it is:

1.(2) Nokia 5800
2.(3) Nokia N97
3.(4) Nokia 6303 Classic
4.(5) Nokia 3109/3110 Evolve
5.(-) Nokia E51
6.(7) Nokia 6301/6300/6300i
7.(-) Samsung i8910 Omnia HD
8.(-) Nokia 6700
9.(8) Samsung B2100
10.(-) Nokia E71

() = Last month’s position.

This list is a bit of an odd one (and, yes, I know that I have voiced concerns about its accuracy before): how come the iPhone 3G shot in from nowhere to #2 in June and, by August has disappeared again completely? What happened to all the HTCs? Gone? Sudden shift in customer demand? Or were Krusell’s products for the respective models maybe just pulled from some stores? Or maybe it’s the looks? It’s odd, odd, odd…

Top 10 Selling Mobile Phones May 2009

By Volker

On 03/06/2009

In 1

World-leading phone accessory maker Krusell has released its monthly top 10 list of mobile phones (based on accessory sales) with Nokia taking all 3 top spots.

1. (3) Nokia 5800
2. (1) Nokia 3109
3. (7) Nokia 6300
4. (2) Samsung SGH-i900/i910 Omnia
5. (4) Nokia E71
6. (5.) HTC Touch HD
7. (6) Nokia 3120
8. (9) Sony Ericsson C702
9. (-) Nokia 6220
10. (10) Sony Ericsson X1 Xperia
() = Last month’s position.

The usual caveats issued before apply again: Blackberry users don’t buy holsters because they either don’t use them (Europe) or use the ones delivered by RIM (US). On the iPhone, my guess would be that users will normally deem themselves too cool to use any that would divert from the purity of their iconic device. So, as always, make of it what you will. It’s at least an indication…

Top 10 Mobile Phones in February 2009

By Volker

On 06/03/2009

In Apple, OEM

Here’s the list of the 10 best-selling phones (judged by accessory sales) as compiled by Krusell, our Swedish holster-maker friends. I will not comment further on the sense or nonsense of this information but reference what I said previously about it.

So without any further ado, here’s the list (in brackets the ranking from the previous month):

1. (1) Samsung SGH-i900/i910 Omnia
2. (2) HTC Touch HD
3. (5) Nokia 6300
4. (3) Nokia E51
5. (4) Blackberry Storm
6. (8) Nokia E71
7. (6) Nokia 3109
8. (-) Nokia 5800
9. (7) Sony Ericsson X1 Xperia
10. (-) Nokia 3120

The most noteworthy new entry is the Nokia 5800 (XpressMusic), and the holster-maker’s CEO reckons it would shake up the top 3 next month. After Nokia’s most recent US launch disaster (see even more poignantly here) for the device, this will sadly but almost certainly not be driven by US sales though…

And as for the remainder: I remain skeptical about the measure (holsters). Other surveys (based on sales, like Sound-Scan used to do for CDs) show VERY different results.

Top 10 Mobile Phones in January

By Volker

On 31/01/2009

In OEM

Our beloved manufacturer of carrying cases for portable electronics, Krusell, enlightens us again with their top 10 list of best-selling phones for the month of January 2009 (or should that be best-selling phone holsters?).

1. (1) Samsung SGH-i900/i910 Omnia

2. (-) HTC Touch HD

3. (9) Nokia E51

4. (-) Blackberry Storm

5. (2) Nokia 6300

6. (5) Nokia 3109

7. (7) Sony Ericsson X1 Experia

8. (8) Nokia E71

9. (-) Nokia 6220

10. (10) HTC Diamond

The number in brackets is the rank from the prior month.

Now, as compared to all of 2008, the iPhone went from #1 to nowhere. I explained this before: they track phone sales by the number of model-specific accessories sold, and I am still not sure if that makes any sense. I see this more in practical terms: the “suits” carrying around their business phones do not seem to have the fashion sense to realize that specific phone cases is nothing that one does (this is also popular with taxi drivers), and therefore it seems obvious that a lot of “business-type” phones are in the list (and none of the “classic” Blackberries because they have their uber-cool faux-leather holster in the box (and, yes, that’s the piece I throw away first!).

Let me know what you think!

Photo credit: http://blogfreespringfield.com/wp-content/uploads/image/holster.jpg

Lower Handset Sales in 2009

By Volker

On 03/12/2008

In OEM

The financial crisis will – what a surprise – also catch the handset manufacturers. A report tells us that handset sales are bound to fall in 2009, by 5.6% or 1.215 billion units, to be precise. The backend of 2008 already sees the impact, too: growth predictions have been reduced from 10.4% year-on-year to 8.9%.

This is in line with reports from Blackberry maker RIM who reduced its forecasts today. Even mighty Nokia is expected to lower its forecasts.

It can probably be expected that this will also impact the mobile content market: it is widely accepted that consumers tend to spend on mobile content in the first 3 months after they got a new phone. So: no new phone, no new content… Moreover: the above reduction in growth does not actually show the whole picture. Mobile content uptake is much higher on high-end phones. However, these are normally bought by way of upgrades, and it is there that the most severe drops are being predicted.

“While new subscriber additions are continuing at a healthy pace and are poised to grow by 563.9 million in 2008 and by 506.5 million in 2009, an overwhelming majority of the new subscribers are coming from the rural areas of emerging regions,” Teng said. “These subscribers primarily are purchasers of low-cost, entry-level handsets. However, the pricier feature-phone and smart-phone market segments are driven by existing subscribers who are upgrading their mobile devices to take advantage of new features and advanced data services. As the economic climate deteriorates, these customers are delaying their purchases.”

All doom and gloom then? Well, maybe not: others predict that the recession (at least in the US) will actually drive the number of wireless-only households. And, after all, a mobile game at €/$/£ 5.00 a pop is not the world, is it?

Which mobile are you?

By Volker

On 05/04/2007

Here’s who you are according to the mobile phone brand you carry:

Nokia – the choice of family-minded, middle aged managers
Motorola – favoured by fashion conscious under 24s
Sony Ericsson – for ambitious young men trying to make their mark
LG – favoured by mums
Samsung – for young women focused on their career

That’s at least what Nielsen Media Research says… I wonder where all the divorced, child-less middle managers are…