European Smartphone Market Grows 41 Percent in Past Year

Nokia Continues to Lead Smartphone Market But Apple and Android Devices are Gaining Fast

LONDON, U.K., September 14, 2010 – Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of smartphone use showing that the Symbian platform holds 54.4 percent of the Western European market. Despite Symbian’s continued growth in number of smartphone subscribers, its market share has fallen as growth in the Apple OS and Android (Google) platforms has surged in the past year.

Top Smartphone Platforms in Europe3 Month Avg.
Ending July 2010 vs. July 2009
Total EU5 (UK, DE, FR, ES and IT) Smartphone Subscribers, Age 13+
Source: Comscore MobiLens
  Jul-09 Jul-10  
Subscribers (000) Share (%) of Subscribers Subscribers (000) Share (%) of Subscribers Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers : 13+ yrs old 43,053 100.0 % 60,850 100.0 %  
Symbian 29,601 68.8 % 33,080 54.4 % -14.4
Apple 4,398 10.2 % 11,677 19.2 % 9.0
Microsoft 5,972 13.9 % 7,081 11.6 % -2.3
RIM 2,746 6.4 % 4,886 8.0 % 1.6
Google 208 0.5 % 3,708 6.1 % 5.6

Smartphone adoption in the EU5 (U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy) has grown 41 percent in the past year to 60.8 million subscribers. Currently, more than one out of every two smartphones is a Nokia manufactured device, although Nokia accounted for more than two out of every three smartphones a year ago.

"Nokia is still the clear leader in the European smartphone market and as the eagerly anticipated N8 launches, all eyes are on Nokia," says Comscore European VP Mobile, Jeremy Copp. "While Nokia has made great strides with offerings such as the Ovi Store and Symbian 3, the pressure is on to reclaim valuable market share. By innovating and bringing new phones to market for a wide variety of audiences, Nokia's future is not predicated on the success of one handset alone."

Top Mobile OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers)3 Month Avg. Ending July 2010 vs. July 2009
Total EU5 (UK, DE, FR, ES and IT) Smartphone Subscribers, Age 13+
Source: Comscore MobiLens
Jul-2009 Jul-2010
Subscribers (000) Share (%) of Subscribers Subscribers (000) Share (%) of Subscribers Point Change
Total Smartphone Subscribers: 13+ yrs old 43,053 100.0% 60,850 100.0%  
Nokia 28,260 65.6% 31,169 51.2% -14.4
Apple 4,398 10.2% 11,677 19.2% 9.0
RIM 2,746 6.4% 4,886 8.0% 1.6
Samsung 1,976 4.6% 3,121 5.1% 0.5
Sony Ericsson 498 1.2% 1,495 4.8% 3.6
LG 197 0.5% 487 0.8% 0.3
Motorola 180 0.4% 388 0.6% 0.2

July 2010 European Mobile Benchmark Data

Below is Comscore’s July 2010 benchmark data, including a review of mobile consumption behaviours and device penetration for five EU countries. This benchmark data will be updated on a monthly basis to provide the most up-to-date snapshot of the mobile industry. Further information on this benchmark data, and other data included above, can be provided upon request.

Mobile Benchmark Data for the European Market
3 Month Average Ending July 2010
Total EU5 (UK, DE, FR, ES and IT), Age 13+
Source: Comscore MobiLens
Reach (%) of Mobile Subscribers
EU5 UK France Germany Italy Spain
Sent text message to another phone 82.5% 90.6% 80.7% 80.7% 78.6% 81.4%
Used application [including games] 35.7% 41.8% 25.9% 35.3% 38.6% 37.1%
Used browser 26.2% 37.4% 25.1% 21.1% 23.7% 23.6%
Listened to music on mobile phone 24.6% 23.6% 21.1% 26.8% 22.2% 30.5%
Accessed Social Networking Site or Blog 15.3% 24.6% 14.0% 9.3% 15.0% 13.6%
Accessed news and information 29.9% 37.1% 27.9% 24.1% 32.6% 27.8%
Smartphone [Platform] 26.4% 28.5% 19.3% 20.3% 34.1% 31.9%
3G Subscribers [Device Generation] 45.3% 44.6% 40.8% 41.8% 46.6% 56.0%

About Comscore

Comscore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Ayaan Mohamud
Comscore, Inc.
+ 44 (0) 203-111-1758
worldpress@comscore.com