Trends of the Russian mobile market
This week, RIA Novosti held a round table with a number of experts of the domestic mobile market. We decided to compare the assumptions of specialists with the data of analytical companies.
As part of a round table organized by RIA Novosti, Andrey Chukaev, director of the MTS Subscriber equipment Marketing Department, said that the share of smartphones in total sales of mobile devices is 30%. At the same time, the share of WP-based devices is growing, and Apple’s market share remains virtually unchanged, showing only a slight increase.
Back in August, IDC analysts predicted such a situation. In their opinion, the share of WP in the Russian market by December will be up to 14% (according to the results of the first half of the year it was 3%). Apple analysts predicted for December of this year no more than 9% of the Russian market, although six months ago its share was 8%.
But the data from J’son & Partners Consulting is quite different: according to the results of the third quarter of this year, iOS owns 6% of the Russian market and 5% – for Windows Phone.
But according to Chukayev, there are about twice as many WP-based smartphone users among the operator’s current subscribers as there are iPhone users. That is, such data are not comparable with either of those or other figures in principle.
How representative the sample is only for MTS subscribers is a question, but even taking into account the recent entry of Nokia Lumia based on Windows Phone, such WP indicators in 18% of the Russian market are unattainable.
By the way, MTS has openly stated that there is currently no agreement between it and Apple on the supply of iPhone smartphones to the Russian operator (according to rumors, the “apple” company was dissatisfied with the previous sales of smartphones by the MTS network).
As the commercial director of Svyaznoy, Yuri Labis, said at the same RIA Novosti round table, Apple’s share in the Russian smartphone market generally fell to 4.3%. But, as we have written more than once, the matter is most likely not in the low popularity of the device, but in its high price from official distributors.
