I wouldn't be too sure about the iPhone taking away blackberries. the iPhone isn't as secure, and can't handle corporate e-mail which is what the blackberry was designed for.

10 million windows mobile phones were sold last year.

I guess, the iphone can't be called a real smartphone, as there are almost no legal apps available for the iphone. Everything installed on it is made by freaks. I wish Apple would finally allow third companies to produce and sell legal apps for the iphone. I'd like to see the statistics for Europe, symbian should have 90% of the smartphone market in ever Q.

Here come the MS trolls.

This report is flawed, Before the iphone came along how did the chart look? Maybe symbian had 27 share, and maybe it did it with the release of the first smartphone nokia.

Also globally speaking symbian probably shifts more than iPhone, simply due to iPhone mainly being an american thing for the moment.

Symbian have most of europe, and a chunk of aisa to go along with them north american figures, What does apple have?

A few phones in france and germany maybe.

All in all, this report or blog, reads like a fanboy pushing his favorite technology onto people, trying desperately to show how it is the best.

I know you guys love apple stuff, and i enjoy reading coverage of their products, but give the competition the respect they deserve, and realise that there is more to life than being loyal to a brand.

@PRO7: iPhone apps are made by Freaks?

@PRO7: Have you been asleep?

[gizmodo.com]

Cut out Symbian, Palm, and Linux, and it sorta looks like Pac-Man eating Balmer.

well although as a iphone owner i admit it is still buggy as hell, i can't take me hand off of it, am also seeing alot of them in the wild lately even some of my friend that where faithful microsoft fanboys got them, strange but true. the only one who should not worry about the iphone is Rim because the blackberry is also the best in its field as a business tool. that why i guess steve made it real clear when he said it was not intent for business used.

I figure that Apple could release a 'commercial' version in the future, once they've worked out the initial kinks and established their place in the market- if it makes business sense. After all, they already have their hands full negotiating contracts, preparing an SDK, etc...

I don't know how much of an impact it would make in RIM's sales, though.

Once third party Applications and MS Exchange Integration comes into place... There is no keeping IPhone..

.... its sad to say... but that chart turns me on.... gosh ... I have to stop obsessing.

@lafond66: Not secure?...compared to what? When you say corporate email, are you referring specifically to the method RIM uses? I've been running my business email on my iPhone really efficiently, btw.

Wow, thats a surprising market share. I had no idea that things are so totally different in America.
In Europe Symbian rules, Windows Mobile has far less market share and Blackberry is virtually nonexistant just as Iphone.
BTW, Iphone isnt technically a Smartphone yet, since officially there are no third party apps for Iphone, hence Iphone is just another Feature Phone...

lol, your business, may I ask how many employees you have?

a single quarter's sales means nothing. nobody sign 3 months contract with wireless providers. apple fanboys need to be more truthful. or they just are influenced by SJ so much that they just can't stop lying anymore?

Ok, the people who are buying iPhones are rich tools who have nothing better to do with their money and like showing it off at parties. The people who are buying Blackberrys and Windows Mobile phones actually have jobs that require them to schedule things and all that jazz. iPhone should be in the same class as the Sidekick, not smart phones.

@prodigal_son: "This report is flawed, Before the iphone came along how did the chart look?"

There are a couple of charts right there on the page that show you what smartphone market share looked like before the iPhone was released.

[www.roughlydrafted.com]

[www.roughlydrafted.com]

I don't see anything in the rest of your statement to back up the idea of the report being flawed. While Daniel Eran Dilger has his biases, he's simply the messenger delivering what Canalys has studied.

@Wildarms7000: You're the tool.

My wife has an iPhone - it replaced her Palm V, cellphone and iPod - it also syncs to her Macbook much easier than her Palm ever did. In the end it's the perfect convergence device for those who require it.

It's best if you don't comment on stories if you have no idea what you're talking about.

does this also include the websites that have been watched with an ipod TOUCH???

@clevin: Oh, did I say anything about my employees? (although they all have iPhones by choice) I simply said that I run my business really well using it. Besides mail, calendar etc. synced and working perfectly all the time, it also contains the company reel so I can show clients material very easily on the spot without needing a DVD player or a laptop to connect to the online reel. I was also using it to run my business while out of the country for a month as well. So, your LOL = my TFSU.

@Wildarms7000:

"Ok, the people who are buying iPhones are rich tools who have nothing better to do with their money and like showing it off at parties."

Ok, the people who hate people who buy iPhones are jealous tools who have nothing better to do with their time than be MS trolls on the Giz. My iPhone is much cheaper than most Nokia or Palm devices I've had in the past, and simply blows away either of them in ease of use, battery life, dimensions, screen size, toughness, fast operating system, etc. etc.

@bitfactory: actually, he's pretty close to the truth.
Ok, the 'tool' comment is a bit harsh but the simple fact is that the iPhone isn't a smartphone and it certainly isn't going to be a threat to Blackberry or WM-based phones from a corporate stand-point.

Ok, so your wife's iPhone syncs better with her Mac than her old phone did but what about all the businesses out there who don't care about or need decent syncing with Macs because they use Windows?
They aren't going to pay through the nose for a phone that doesn't do what they need as well as the (cheaper) competition.

@johnnyabnormal: 'My iPhone is much cheaper than most Nokia or Palm devices I've had in the past, and simply blows away either of them in ease of use, battery life, dimensions, screen size, toughness, fast operating system, etc. etc.'

I can't help replying to this as I think you're showing a grossly one-sided view here.

I don't know about the rest of the world but here in the UK, you'd be hard pushed to find any other phone that you couldn't get free on a similarly-priced contract to the cheapest one the iPhone is available on.
Ease of use; yeah, I have to agree, the UI is great.
Battery life; I've been pretty disappointed with this, it's pretty sucky if you're using wi-fi much.
Dimensions; it's thinner but it's larger, so we'll call this a no-score-draw.
Toughness; it's better than the iPods with their shiny backs but I wouldn't say it was any better than most other phones.
OS; faster than some, about the same as some others.

It's a nice phone, don't get me wrong but it's really not the be-all and end-all in mobile phone handsets.
Like everything else on the market, it has it's pros and it's cons.

@Step666: Don't get me wrong, I think there are cons too: No flash, no 3G, etc. I never said the device was perfect, that's for sure. There's plenty of room for improvement. I also don't think it's for everyone, although anyone who has tried mine out wanted one really badly, then bought one. I am also basing my views on my past 3 phones:

Unlocked European Treo 650 - Easily scratched screen, pathetic battery life, crashed constantly.

Unlocked European N80 - Slowest operating system I've ever used on a phone. Also probably the most counterintuitive OS I've ever used as well.

@Step666: Btw, about pricing: I'm no fan of the way things are set up with carriers, phones and pricing in the USA. I would like to see other cell phone manufacturers create something like the iPhone or better so it has some competition. That is when things will really get interesting.

Whether the iPhone will dominate the smartphone world is certainly far from being decided. It doesn't change the fact that the iPhone is kicking some ass left and right, so you haterz should just chill and wait this one out before you continue with your bashing.

Seriously.

Cue back 4 months and try to remember what you were saying back then:

"This POS iPhone shite is destined to fail because [__________________] (insert your favorite iPhone doomsday scenario from circa June 2007)"

I wish I could post that picture about arguing on the internet inline right here.

This is SO different outside US!

@johnnyabnormal: lol, for what you described, you should know yourself that a big company can't rely on iphone. whats wrong with pointing out the obvious?

btw, as a business man, im sure you know its ridiculous to argue the marketshare based on a sales # from one quarter? do you?

Nice work with the Ballmer chair toss graphic. I rofl'd!

Hmm, I can't believe this pie-chart either, I mean, Palm looks all but dead. Even if those were just quarter sales, there might be a certain dose of wishful thinking in it.
I think the iPhone has real promise, first of all doing away with those tiny keyboards, and running on OS X (I was really turned on by that SSH-article that was on the giz a couple of weeks after the iPhone came out). But unless there are native third-party apps (notably spreadsheet, accounting, word processing, dictionaries and GPS) on it, a better camera (maybe with just a little auto-focus...), stylus-centered text recognition and some sort of removable storage -only has to be microSD- I'll stick with my PalmOS device until it bites the dust. Maybe Palm will bite the dust before that, hehe, PalmOS 6 going straight to vaporware heaven;-)
It's just been half a year for the iPhone, so, I will keep reigning in my enthusiasm for the great design and turn my attention to what matters most for me in a phone, which is, that I can us it as a serious business companion for my notebook, apart from making calls, of course;-)

@Step666: "Ok, the 'tool' comment is a bit harsh but the simple fact is that the iPhone isn't a smartphone and it certainly isn't going to be a threat to Blackberry or WM-based phones from a corporate stand-point."

If the iPhone isn't a smartphone, why do market research firms like NPD and Canalys include it in their statistics? Why was Symbian, the leading smartphone OS vendor, fearful of publishing these results for once if they don't view the iPhone as a competitor to their business?

As for the "corporate standpoint," have you seen the Palm Centro? The Motorola Q, Samsung Blackjack, Nokia N95? Heard about the new 9000 series of touchscreen handsets RIM is developing? Seen the new BlackBerry Pearl commercial advertising its hip new colors rather than secure e-mail?

Here, check out the Pearl website itself where it's highlighted as being "Small, Smart, and Stylish."

[www.blackberrypearl.com]

Smartphone sales have seen substantial growth year after year because of the CONSUMER MARKET. It's the crossover into the mainstream as they're purchased by non-corporate customers who demand more feature rich devices that has turned smartphones into a booming business. Do you honestly believe Apple used a touchscreen phone to enter this space with the intention of appealing to businesses?

You're right, the iPhone in its current form will not be much of a threat corporate-wise. However Microsoft, RIM and Palm are creating more consumer friendly devices for average joes like myself and that's where the Apple threat lies. The millions of people buying iPhones could have very well ended up with a T-Mobile Dash or HTC Touch instead. These are the customers driving smartphone adoption.

So I always keep an eye on what people are using when I'm out and about. I realize the press and blog writers heavily pump all things apple... so its always good to do a reality check. I live in a fairly populated area to say the least and I've only seen 4 iphones in use since they came out. So I was actually pretty shocked to see this article. Airports, restaurants, business seminars, grocery stores... if it had 27% marketshare...I figure I would have seen it a lot more. In fact I see more rzr's, blackberry's, EnV's and what I call "generic phones" then the iphone. So I ventured to the Roughly drafted site to get the full scoop. After reading the article and navigating the site...I realized the Daniel Dilger might be a little biased...and the numbers might be a little full of shit. It could have been the article equating Microsoft to communist russia...or how the zune is the most evil product ever made...or how microsoft buyers suffer from stockholm syndrome. I don't know I think he might not like microsoft.
Honestly, this guy makes mossberg look like a rabid Microsoft fanboi. Giz..where did you dig this retard up? I wouldn't be surprized if he wears a tinfoil helmet to protect himself from evil microsoft.

@Marty_MacFly: Did you seriously just quote RoughlDrafted? This is the same site that claims that not having third-party apps for the iPhone is a good thing. Really - go read some of their articles, then come back and think about whether you consider them to be a credible source.

@dvda: "if it had 27% marketshare...I figure I would have seen it a lot more."

The 27% figure does not mean 27% of everyone you see in the street now owns an iPhone. It means 27% of US smartphones sold during the 3rd Quarter (months of July-September) were iPhones. The "smartphone market" is a tiny portion of all cell phones sold.

"After reading the article and navigating the site...I realized the Daniel Dilger might be a little biased"

The 27% figure, as well as the estimates from Canalys, are the findings of the market research firms known as NPD and Canalys. They are not the products of studies conducted by Daniel Eran Dilger, he simply analyzed them. His personal biases, however right they may be, have nothing to do with what NPD and Canalys reported.

Now that the newness of the iphone is over we should see that number come back down. I've seen several articles/blogs from users who tried it and bailed. Cute toy, nice package, not even close to being ready for business.

@bsoft: "Did you seriously just quote RoughlDrafted?"

I did not quote the personal opinion of Daniel Eran Dilger. I linked to charts he hosted on his website, charts that were created by and are the property of the Canalys market analysis and consulting firm.

[www.canalys.com]

If you would click the links, or even let your pointer hover over them, you would've seen that rather than being forced to make an assumption.

I use my iPhone for my (one person) art/tech related business, along with an office full of mostly macs and one despised pc. The main reason? I'd rather have tools that are easy to set up and use, so I can focus on the work I want to do. Sure, nothing is perfect (I'd like another layer of protection against accidental calls), but the automatic mac-compatibility of the iPhone saves me a lot of time and hassle.

How is the iPhone smart when it cannot connect to any sort of enterprise back end or services?

I seriously doubt they stole any share from WM or Blackberry. It's just the trendy zombies trading in their Moto Dorkr or wtf ever they thought they were supposed to buy in order to be cool.

@ Marty MacFly...
I didn't assume that 27% of people I saw would have an iphone. If a lot of iphones are selling the probability of me seeing one would go up. The numbers stretch the truth a little. Even your first sentence is misleading "Canalys has produced a report showing the iPhone has grown massively in North America" By popping in a phone that is not in the smartphone catagory the numbers skew. The general cellphone market has much bigger market than smartphones. It would be similar as popping in an enV into the numbers. The target audience for cell phones is different and much larger. What are the numbers compared when popped into the cell phone market? It would be interesting to see.

As to the "it syncs easier with a Mac." So what. Real smart phones don't sync with desktops, they sync with their server directly via direct push or some variant of it; bringing down contacts, mail, schedules and to-do stuff..etc.

Hell, if I had to actually be in the office to sync my schedule? WTF use is that?

WM has issues, no doubt, but for the iphone fans to even try to compare their toy to a real smart phone from MS or Blackberry is a joke. The iPhone is an iPod with a half-assed phone tacked on.

smartphone in North.America? in Q3 of 2007? That's like saying (calm down, just making a point) the ps3 outsell the wii but in November. Sure it's a fact but just a piece of the pie, not the whole picture...If they want to compare,why not compare the whole world (or atleast where the iphone's available).

It is kind of fun watching everyone making strawman arguments of the other side. The iPhone was never intended to be a business machine so get over that argument. It was designed purely as a consumer device(Which Apple did a bang up job in marketing to the people on the street.)with almost no attention paid to enterprise IT integration. Arguing that it is poor because it is not a good enterprise-grade device (Missing encryption, lack of MS Exchange integration)is a moot point. MS meanwhile went for the Enterprise segment and basically tacked on consumer feature. WM (And also RIM) is great at integrating with typical corporate systems but horrible to use as a consumer device since it wasn't part of the basic design from the beginning.

What MS, RIM and Palm realize now (And Apple figured out) is that the market has shifted. Corporations have adopted the "Good Enough" stance when looking at IT and are no longer willing to but the latest and greatest for their employees just for the sake of it. Consumers on the other hand have become more and more receptive to network technologies and want smartphone-like devices. And so they are now the place for growth for smart phones. Apple came in at the right time and offered the right device for that. The others will get their products retooled for the John and Jane of the street soon enough and adapt to the changed market. At the end, we all get some cool new phones at competitive prices.