Posted on Friday, October 10 2008 @ 7:46 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Internet News
reports the iPhone 3G gave Apple 17 percent of the smartphone market by the end of August:
The introduction of the iPhone 3G last July did wonders to pop Apple's place in the smartphone market, with users dumping their phones to switch to Apple's device.
But Apple will be hard-pressed to maintain its growth curve as new challengers enter the market.
That's according to research from the NPD Group, which found that Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) slice of the smartphone market went from 11 percent in June to 17 percent of the market overall by the end of August. Apple had quite a run of sales during that three-month period at 24 percent of smartphone sales.
Don't expect that hot streak to last. Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD, tells InternetNews.com that Apple will face growing challenges in the coming months.
"We're poised to see some new touchscreen smart phones from T-Mobile and others, which may reduce the number of consumers who are switching to AT&T to have access to an iPhone," he said.
The other factors for Apple are whether it can stem the tide of bad news that accompanied the 3G launch, such as poor 3G performance and connectivity issues.
