Canadian Smartphone Market

hereiam™ works on all cell devices and we add real value on smartphones with some very unique UI (user interfaces). We do this by using the ‘smarts’ that these phones have to provide one button access to the best business features in the market. So it was particularly refreshing when I sat in on comScore’s Bryan Segal presentation on Smartphones in Canada at the Canadian Wireless Trade Show. I asked if I could write a blog sharing some of his findings (he agreed). Here are some interesting stats:

- More than 1 in 3 mobile devices are smartphones (out of a total of 20 million cell devices).
- Western Canada has the lead in smartphone penetration (as a percentage of subscribers- 41% in B.C. vs. 27% in Quebec).
- RIM smartphones dominate in total numbers (38% vs. Apple’s iPhones at 32% and Google Android-based phones at around 18%) but both Apple and Google are gaining market share (with Google’s market share growing 56% over last quarter).
- HTC currently has the highest amount of Android-based devices installed (76%) followed by Sony Ericcson (18%), Motorola (10%) and Samsung (9%). Samsung is the fastest growing Android- based device in 2011 in Canada.
- Canadians hold onto their devices longer than their American neighbors (primarily due to our long contracts).
- The % usage on smartphones- mobile media tops the list at 44% for browsing, using apps, email and 30% of the time using voice. Clearly, smartphones are becoming a mobile business device for more than just talking.
- The overall Cost of Monthly Service is much more important than features/capabilities (the overall cost was cited as most important followed by network quality, then cost of specific devices, then brand).
- More than half of acquired devices in the last quarter were touch-screen devices (up 8% more than last quarter).
- Canada is second only to Germany in smartphone penetration growth quarter over quarter (13% for Germany followed by Canada’s 10%).

When you add the dynamics of existing and new carriers, it gets more interesting! For starters, we’re finally getting some relief in the exorbitant voice and data rates offered by the oligopoly (Bell, Rogers and TELUS).The price of monthly wireless bills (voice and data) is coming down in Canada due to the surge of new competitors like Wind, Public Mobile and Mobilicity. Convergence Consulting Group Ltd. released numbers last week showing that the new wireless companies are offering combined plans that are 58 per cent cheaper than the incumbents. For data plans, new entrant providers are charging as much as 83 per cent less. All this has contributed to a 1.4-per-cent drop in average revenue per user for the Big Three in 2011. It seems the big wireless companies are waking up to the market negativity of gouging prices and finally offering customers better value-for-dollar.

What these stats show is that smartphone users will switch carriers if pricing is significantly different. With a lot of 3 year contracts coming up and the surge in smartphone sales, these are exciting times for the mobile user in Canada!