Apple (AAPL) iPhone Gains Notable Market Share in October; iOS Favored in Japan
Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said that Apple's U.S. smartphone market share hit 52.8 percent in October 2013 and is at 28.7 percent in Europe. The firm commented:
The cheaper 5C appeals to a broader audience than Apple usually attracts. In the US, the biggest demand for these mid-end models is coming from lower income households. Some 42 percent of iPhone 5C owners earn less than $49,000 compared with just 21 percent for iPhone 5S. iPhone 5C customers also tend to be slightly older at an average of 38 years compared to 34 years for the 5S. The good news for Apple is that this wider appeal is attracting significant switching from competitors. Almost half of iPhone 5C owners switched from competitor brands, particularly Samsung and LG, compared with 80 percent of 5S owners who upgraded from a previous iPhone model.
Notably, Kantar also said that Apple's share in Japan improved to 76.1 percent following release of the new devices on NTT DoCoMo.
Shares of Apple are positive in early trading Monday.