Sales of smartphones to U.S. customers hit 9 million units from January through July 2008 compared to the same time period last year, representing an 84 percent increase.
Overall handset sales and revenues dipped in the U.S., but smartphone revenue increased 71 percent hitting almost $4.7 billion. With the launch of Apple’s iPhone in July, Apple took the second spot in smartphone sales, behind RIM.
As a percentage of all handset sales from January through July, smartphones accounted for 19 percent of all handset purchases compared to 9 percent during the same period last year.
“Declining prices, streamlined form factors, and consumer Internet connectivity have begun to bring into the mainstream devices that once appealed only to mobile professionals,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis, The NPD Group.
The average price of a smartphone sold between January and July 2008 was $185, down 7 percent from $199 during the same time last year.
“As they become inexpensive gateways to the Internet from practically anywhere, smartphones are delivering a better consumer value than ever before; however, more must be done to show the advantages of their operating systems to keep them ahead of increasingly sophisticated feature phones,” Rubin said.
Both RIM and Palm saw consumer unit sales gains against competitors in the first seven months of 2008. RIM had a 24 percent growth rate and Palm had a 9 percent growth rate.
Leading smartphone manufacturers have adopted a variety of software platforms. With advances such as the iPhone SDK, the arrival of Google’s Android platform, and the open-source path of Symbian,” Rubin said. “Competition stands to intensify for the attention of developers delivering the next great wireless application.”
