Smartphone adoption reaches 40% in Canada

1 Dec 2011

TORONTO, CANADA: comScore, Inc, a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the Canada mobile phone industry for September 2011.

The report ranked the leading mobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and smartphone operating system (OS) platforms in Canada according to their share of current mobile subscribers ages 13 and older, and reviewed the most popular activities and content accessed via the subscriber's primary mobile phone. The September report found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.2% market share, while RIM led among smartphone platforms with 35.8% share of that market segment.

OEM market share

In September, 20.1 million Canadians ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.2% of mobile subscribers in Canada, followed by LG with 20.0% share and RIM with 14.3% share. Apple ranked fourth with 12.0% share of subscribers, while Nokia rounded out the top five at 10.1%.

Top Mobile OEMs September 2011 Total Canada Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non Smartphone) Ages 13+ (Source: comScore MobiLens)
	Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers
Total Mobile Subscribers	100.0%
Samsung	25.2%
LG	20.0%
RIM	14.3%
Apple	12.0%
Nokia	10.1%

Smartphone platform market share

8 million people in Canada owned smartphones in September 2011, representing 40% of the mobile market in Canada, a gain of 7 percentage points in the past six months. RIM ranked as the top platform with 35.8% of the smartphone market, followed by Apple at 30.1%. Google Android gained ground among the competition by doubling its market share to 25.0 over the past six months. Symbian ranked fourth with 4.2% share, followed by Microsoft with 3.2%.

Top Smartphone Platforms September 2011 Total Canada Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+ (Source: comScore MobiLens)
	Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
Total Smartphone Subscribers	100.0%
RIM	35.8%
Apple	30.1%
Google	25.0%
Symbian	4.2%
Microsoft	3.2%

Mobile content usage

Canadians use their mobile devices to access a wide variety of content. In September, 67.4% of the total Canada mobile audience used text messaging on their mobile device, compared to 88.1% of the Smartphone audience. Downloaded applications were used by 40.9% of the total mobile audience, compared to 84.2% of smartphone subscribers. Mobile browsers were another popular way of accessing mobile content, used by 36.9% of the total audience and 74.8% of the smartphone audience.

Some 39.5% of the total audience and 79.3% of the smartphone audience used their phones to stay up-to-date on the latest news. Other popular mobile behaviours included accessing maps (44.4% of smartphone subscribers), accessing bank accounts (28.8% of smartphone subscribers) and scanning QR codes (18.1% of smartphone subscribers).

Select Mobile Content Usage September 2011 Total Canada Mobile Subscribers and Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+ (Source: comScore MobiLens)
	Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers	Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers
Total Mobile Subscribers	100.0%	100.0%
Sent text message	67.4	88.1
Used downloaded application	40.9	84.2
Accessed news and information	39.5	79.3
Used browser	36.9	74.8
Used email (work or personal)	32.7	69.3
Accessed Social Networking Site or Blog	29.2	60.7
Played games	28.0	53.2
Accessed weather	27.5	60.2
Accessed search	24.2	51.2
Listened to music on mobile phone	20.8	40.7
Accessed maps	20.1	44.4
Accessed sports information	14.8	31.5
Accessed entertainment news	14.2	29.5
Accessed bank accounts	13.5	28.8
Scanned QR/bar code with mobile phone	8.1	18.1

About MobiLens

MobiLens data is derived from an intelligent online survey of a nationally representative sample of mobile subscribers age 13 and above. Data on mobile phone usage refers to a respondent's primary mobile phone and does not include data related to a respondent's secondary device.