Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker
• Published Research
•  Technology Coverage and Data Segmentation
•  Geographic Scope
•  Forecast Coverage
•  Delivery Schedule and Deliverables
•  IDC's Tracker Methodology
•  Enabling Better Business Decisions Across the Organization
•  IDC's Global Tracker Process at Work
• What Is An IDC Tracker

IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker® fills the demand for detailed and timely information on the total mobile phone and smartphone markets for handset vendors, software developers, service providers, component suppliers, and investors. It provides insightful analysis through quarterly market share data by region. IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker® is built on the foundation of IDC's network of country-level mobile phone tracking services, and its bottom-up methodology delivers an accurate view of the mobile phone market from those closest to it. This IDC tracker product delivers a quarterly Web database that details the performance of the market's individual players and answers important product-planning and product-positioning questions.


Technology Coverage and Data Segmentation


This tracker provides total market size and vendor share for the following technology areas and segmentations. Measurement for this tracker is in unit shipments, value, and ASP.

Technologies and Subtechnologies:

  • Device types: feature phone, smartphone
  • Vendors: 150+
  • Air interfaces: CDMA EV-DO, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSPA, LTE
  • Operating systems, versions and platforms: Android, Windows Phone, Symbian, iOS, BlackBerry OS, Linux
  • Generation: 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G

Other Model Attributes:

  • Input method (alphanumeric, QWERTY, touchscreen), camera megapixel bands, GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, TV, Push2Talk, radio, VoIP, music player, video player, Java, BREW, MMS, display, primary memory card, screen size, NFC, dual SIM, application processor information
  • Channel Splits:
  • Retail, telco, direct, etailers, others
  • Segment Splits:
  • Consumer, commercial

Geographic Scope


  • Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) available by 14 countries
  • Canada
  • Central and Eastern Europe available by 6 countries
  • Japan
  • Latin America available by 11 countries
  • Middle East and Africa available by 10 countries
  • United States
  • Western Europe available by 16 countries

Forecast Coverage


Forecasts for this tracker are updated quarterly and include historical data, up to two years of quarterly forecasts, and an additional three years of annual market projections. Forecasts are available at the worldwide, regional, and country levels. Segmentations forecast in this tracker include:

  • Device type
  • Air interface
  • Generation
  • Operating system

Delivery Schedule and Deliverables


This tracker is delivered on a quarterly basis via a pivot table and via an online query tool for historical and forecast data. The delivery schedule for this tracker is as follows:

  • Preliminary Top 10 and Top 10 vendors by region and device type: Wednesday, week 5 after period closes
  • Historical data: Wednesday, week 7 after period closes
  • Forecast data: Wednesday, week 9 after period closes
  • Qualitative reports on each region: Wednesday, week 10 after period closes

IDC's Tracker Methodology


IDC's tracker data is developed using a rigorous methodology that includes well-planned and well-coordinated local, regional, and worldwide data cross-checks combined with a proprietary advanced data consolidation and analysis data platform managed by IDC's Worldwide Tracker organization. Data sources used in the process of determining IDC's tracker numbers include, but are not limited to:

  • In-country local vendor interviews
  • Distribution data feeds
  • Worldwide and regional vendor guidance
  • ODM data
  • In-country local channel partner discussions
  • Import records
  • Feedback from component suppliers
  • Vendor briefings and public financial reports

Enabling Better Business Decisions Across the Organization


IDC trackers provide the accurate and timely market size, vendor share, and forecast information you need to identify market and product expansion opportunities, increase revenue, and win market share. IDC's tracker research is a critical input to the planning and monitoring cycles of the business process. Common uses of the tracker data include:

Planning Process

  • Regional, state, or city-level planning — setting regional, country, state, or city-level sales targets based on market opportunity
  • Product marketing — creating a product strategy and road map based on currently available product features and expected growth
  • Production planning — using customer demand data as an input in the creation of production schedules
  • Product portfolio planning — accessing accurate and detailed data as an input into the product development process

Monitoring Process

  • Performance measurement — comparing vendor performance on prior fiscal periods
  • Competitive analysis — reviewing competitor performance across multiple dimensions: product, features, channel, segment, geography
  • Sales forecasting measurement — assessing internal sales forecast versus actual results
  • Price benchmarking — comparing vendor versus market pricing data by model
  • Marketing communications — using positive results for messaging in the press, at partner events, or in sales collateral

IDC's Global Tracker Process at Work


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Meet the Experts        More


. Francisco Jeronimo
Research Director, European Consumer Wireless and Mobile Communications, IDC EMEA
fjeronimo
. Jay Gumbiner
Director, Consumer and Commercial Devices, Latin America
. Kevin Restivo
Senior Analyst, Mobility
. Melissa Chau
Senior Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC Asia/Pacific
. Michito Kimura
Senior Market Analyst, PC, Mobile & Client Solution, IDC Japan