Not many would say Nokia and Apple were in the same league when it came to smartphones, but according to a new report from Strategy Analytics, data shows the Nokia N8 knocking the iPhone 4 from the top spot in terms of shelf space.
Using its SpecTRAX tracker, SA has taken shelf-share data from the device portfolios of 140 carriers in 30 countries and gone through some 12,600 handset models, of which 2,120 were available through at least one retailer or network operator in early July to come to the conclusion that “the Nokia N8-00 has become the most widely available handset, taking the top spot from the Apple iPhone 4.”
Fair enough, but how many N8s are being sold compared to iPhone 4s? we asked SA. While the firm admitted that this point was “spot on,” it added that it didn’t have any retail audit data to share.
Having said that, said SA’s Stephen Entwistle, “we can see interesting trends related to the supply chain dynamics and also the rise and fall of almost all models.”
Nokia, he said, still “just about holds on” to one of its key strengths, access to the widest distribution channels, said Entwistle.
SA said that 51% of the operators tracked by SpecTRAX carried the Nokia N8-00 while 50% carried the Apple iPhone 4. RIM’s BlackBerry Torch 9800 Slider also managed to enter the research firm’s top ten shelf-share chart, bringing the grand total of RIM models on the list to four.
Every single phone in the top ten shelf-share chart was a smartphone, though the models seeing the highest growth rate in terms of shelf space are the HTC Wildfire S, HTC Sensation and Samsung Galaxy S II 32GB.
The Nokia C2-01 was apparently the only non-smartphone in the improvers top ten, another victory for Nokia’s positioning when it comes to consumer and business users, said SA. As of the week ending 3 July, it was available in 27% of carrier portfolios across the world, the firm said.
