By the Numbers: Top 10 Most Popular U.S. Handsets in October
December 1 2008 - 5:59 am ET | Kristen Beckman | RCR Wireless News
Editor's Note: The following lists ranks the 10 most popular handsets in the United States for the month of October. Rankings were provided by AvianResearch L.L.C.
The firm derives its ranking via its Monthly Retail Store Survey, which is based on responses from 100 service representatives and store managers at retail stores of the four major U.S. wireless carriers (AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc.). The survey is designed to be reflective of the U.S. wireless market from both a carrier market share and geographic standpoint. Collectively, AvianResearch said the four largest carriers represent 85% of the U.S. wireless market on a subscriber basis.
For the purposes of this list, RCR Wireless News has added carrier information beyond the four largest carriers surveyed by Avian.
Research In Motion Ltd. has held the top spot on the ranking for five straight months, with the BlackBerry Pearl topping the list in April, and the Blackberry Curve dominating the list from May through October.
Although most of October’s top 10 phones were present on the list last month, the HTC Corp. G1, the LG Electronics Co. Ltd. Env2 and the HTC Diamond made their first appearances this month.
Meanwhile, the LG Rumor, Palm Inc. Centro and Nokia Corp. 5310 have dropped off the list from last month.
This list differs from one recently provided by NPD Group due to different tabulation methods.
Top 10 Most Popular Handsets in October |
|||
Device |
September Rank |
Available At |
|
| 1. RIM Blackberry Curve | 1 |
AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, others |
 |
| 2. Apple iPhone | 2 |
AT&T Mobility |
 |
| 3. LG Dare | 3 |
Verizon Wireless |
 |
| 4. Samsung Instinct | 6 |
Sprint Nextel |
 |
| 5. LG Voyager | 5 |
Verizon Wireless |
 |
| 6. RIM Blackberry Pearl | 4 |
AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, others |
 |
| 7. HTC G1 | Not ranked |
T-Mobile |
 |
| 8. LG Env2 | Not ranked |
Verizon Wireless |
 |
| 9. LG Shine | 8 |
AT&T Mobility |
 |
| 10. HTC Diamond | Not ranked |
Alltel, Sprint Nextel, others |
 |
| Source: Rankings provided by AvianResearch L.L.C. | |||
December 10, 2008 04:11 pm
Can anyone tell me, Which are the top selling handsets for the month of November
December 3, 2008 06:01 am
As a "counter geek" I had no problem with their polling method.First of all, it is probably very difficult to get handset sales data from the carriers or suppliers, so sales reps may be their only source of information.I see probably 100 - 200 customers a week. Of these customers, some are not approved for service, are not eligible to upgrade yet at promotional pricing, are window-shopping for a new phone they intend to purchase later, or wanted a phone that I did not have in-stock. So if they are trying to gage interest or popularity, we probably have more to tell than raw sales data would anyway, if it were available.
December 1, 2008 04:45 pm
Paragraph 2 of the article reveals the mysterious methodology behind these metrics- simply put, it's an opinion based poll taken from the counter geeks at the top 4 carriers' retail locations. Highly scientific.
December 1, 2008 06:01 am
I wonder at their methodology. When they say 'popular', do they mean actual sales, which to me is the best measure - or do they mean 'stuff people asked the most about'. Or is it a combo? Although I know the G1 got a lot of interest and pre-sales orders, I wonder at its place at #7 on the list. I've used it quite extensively and find it to be incredibly disappointing (not as bad as the BB Storm, of course). Word of mouth may clip the wings of that one.