iPhone 4S Not So Hot in Europe as Apple's Market Share Declines

New data shows that the iPhone is losing market share in Europe. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, a market research firm, has compiled data indicating that while the iPhone 4S has given Apple AAPL a boost in the United States, England and Australia, the prized smartphone is beginning to decline in other parts of the world. “In Great Britain, the U.S. and Australia, Apple's new iPhone continues to fly off the shelf in the run-up to Christmas,” Dominic Sunnebo, a global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, told Reuters. “However, this trend is far from universal.” According to the Reuters report, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said that in the 12 weeks to end-November, Apple's market share “rose to 36 percent in the United States from 25 percent a year earlier and in Britain to 31 percent from 21 percent.” On the flipside, “Its share slipped in France to 20 percent from 29 percent a year earlier, in Germany to 22 percent from 27 percent, with similar drops also seen in Italy and Spain.” “The French market is showing increasing signs of price sensitivity,” Sunnebo told Reuters. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech believes that European sales of the iPhone 4S were “hit by weakening economies across the continent.” “In Germany, Android achieved a dominant 61 percent share of smartphone sales in the latest 12 weeks, with the Samsung Galaxy S II the top selling handset,” Sunnebo concluded. Follow me @LouisBedigian