Apple’s White iPhone 4 Could Give it a Boost Against Android

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Will the white iPhone 4 boost Apple’s share of the smartphone market?

According to new research by NPD Group, Apple is managing to hold its own against the growing army of Google Android smartphones without the help of a new device–or at least, a new device color–on the market. On the basis of first-quarter smartphone sales, NPD Group places Apple third in the U.S. market, with 14 percent, trailing Samsung at 23 percent and LG Electronics at 18 percent but remaining ahead of HTC, Motorola and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry franchise.

“Apple and Verizon had a very successful launch of the iPhone 4, which allowed the iPhone to expand its market share that was previously held back by its prolonged carrier exclusivity with AT&T,” Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis at NPD Group, wrote in an April 28 statement. “While some of that growth came at the expense of Android operating system, Android models still accounted for half of all smartphones sold in the quarter.”

The firm also named the iPhone 4 the top-selling mobile phone in the United States, followed by the iPhone 3GS, Motorola Droid X, HTC Evo 4G and HTC Droid Incredible. Smartphone sales increased 8 percent in the quarter, although overall handset sales apparently fell 1 percent.

According to other analysts, the presence of a white iPhone could have a significant–although not necessarily blockbuster–impact on the smartphone landscape through the summer.

“The purchase of consumer electronic devices is not always a completely rational decision, and people buy Apple products for many different reasons, including status, aesthetics, functionality, quality and the ‘cool factor,’” Brian White, an analyst with Ticonderoga Securities, wrote in an April 27 research note. “In our view, this delay has created a certain mystique and scarcity value around the ‘white’ iPhone 4 that we believe could drive incremental iPhone 4 purchases in the range of 1 million to 1.5 million units per quarter until the iPhone 5 potentially comes to market in September.”

For more, read the eWEEK article: Apple’s White iPhone 4 Could Affect Android Rivalry.

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