Report: Nokia Losing Share in Wi-Fi Handset Market Nov 3, 2009

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Nokia has seen its market lead slip significantly over the past year, reports In-Stat. In 2Q08, Nokia had over 50% market share. This has dropped well over 10 share points as of 2Q09, said In Stat. Over that same time period, Apple has significantly increased market share, as did RIM.

Wi-Fi handset shipments have increased significantly over the past several years. From 2007 to 2008, shipments increased by more than 50%. In-Stat says this growth is a result from increased phone functionality, falling price points, and carrier promotion.

In-Stat also found:
• Wi-Fi/cellular handsets are driving hotspot usage. For example, AT&T recently announced that 60 of all AT&T Wi-Fi connections in 3Q 2009 were made from smart phones and other integrated devices, up from 49% in the second quarter.

• The potential for voice over Wi-Fi is gaining popularity, as cellular/Wi-Fi phones become more pervasive and consumer familiarity with VoIP increases.

• The Wi-Fi attach rate (percent of handsets with embedded Wi-Fi) will more than double over the next two years.

• There were 121 models of cellular/Wi-Fi handsets introduced in the first half of 2009, almost as many as were introduced in all of 2008.

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