IP Communications

Apple (News - Alert) reportedly has become the world’s most profitable handset vendor in the third quarter, the latest research from Strategy Analytics revealed.

 

The report, published by the Strategy Analytics (News - Alert) Wireless Device Strategies service, an independent research and consulting firm, found that Nokia has slipped into the second position in the third quarter of 2009. This slide is being attributed to margins being hit hard by both the economic downturn and a stagnant presence in the United States.

 

According to Alex Spektor, analyst at Strategy Analytics, Apple has overtaken Nokia (News - Alert) for the first time. Strategy Analytics’ research has estimated that Apple’s operating profit for its iPhone handset division stands at $1.6 billion in the third quarter of 2009. Nokia recorded a lower $1.1 billion of operating profit. Strong volumes, high wholesale prices and tight cost controls have resulted in Apple breaking into the mobile phone market in just two years.

 

Neil Mawston, director of the wireless device strategies service at Strategy Analytics, Nokia’s profit margin for its handset division has been shrinking during the 2009 global economic downturn. Strategy Analytics found out that the United States, where Nokia now trails Apple in marketshare, is the key to Nokia’s recovery in 2010. A successful fight on Apple’s high-profit home turf will simultaneously help to revitalize Nokia’s margins and also put a check on Apple’s surging growth, the report said.

 

Strategy Analytics explores new opportunities and illuminates the changing dynamics of existing opportunities in the fast paced and converging worlds of information, communication and entertainment. It gives clients competitive and market intelligence that develops product and marketing strategies leading to successful business development.

 

Market reports from Strategy Analytics provide five-year demand forecasts and historical data in the technology sectors that a client subscribes to. In addition, Strategy Analytics uses advanced market research and analytic techniques to provide its clients around the world with unique and proprietary solutions to key business and product development issues.