 "Nokia rules Middle East mobile market, but Samsung is top smartphone maker")
A new IDC report reveals that Finnish mobile manufacturer Nokia is now the market leader in the Middle East, currently accounting for 45 percent of the overall Middle East mobile phone market. The report, while talking about the increasing shift towards the smartphone segment, notes that Nokia has continued to hold on to its position in that market. The current data shows that two out of every five phones in the Middle East are now smartphones.
Nokia’s share in the total smartphone market share has also seen a steady increase, with the company now accounting for 11.8 percent of the region’s market share. This is a step up from the 9.7 percent share it had held in Q1 2013. The Finnish manufacturer is also phasing out its earlier Symbian models to make place for the Lumia Windows Phone line-up, which have seen an increase in adoption. In the last few months, Nokia has been putting a lot of focus on its Asha series as well as the Lumia range with devices like the budget Lumia 520 doing extremely well in the market. The report indicates that this effort is paying off, with cheaper Lumia models having helped pump up the company’s performance in that region.
Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Nokia’s handset operations will also help to increase the latter’s presence in the smartphone arena, both in that region and globally. With Microsoft backing the show, greater financial backing can now be expected to get the Windows Phone OS into entry-level smartphones being sold in emerging markets.
Nokia accounts for more than 45 percent of the overall Middle East mobile market
The report also shows that global smartphone leader Samsung comes in second in this market. The South Korean company accounts for 18.3 percent of the overall handset market for the second quarter of 2013. The company, however, controls nearly half of the smartphone market, currently outselling Nokia by nearly five to one. The data reveals that last year’s Galaxy S3 and the S3 Mini are doing quite well, outselling Apple’s iPhone 5 and even the current flagship, the Galaxy S4.
The other major player, Apple, has seen a slight dip in terms of market share from quarter to quarter, with the current market share standing at 11.4 percent. BlackBerry has been able to hold on to its status as the number-two vendor in the smartphone category in that region. However, its recently launched Q10 and Z10 devices have been slow to pick up and the company now has a mere 13.3 percent share of the total market.
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