Market Share

As it deals with falling market share and controversial decisions to pull advertising from the Super Bowl and the Facebook social media site, General Motors Co. fired Joel Ewanick, its global marketing chief. “Joel failed to meet the expectations the company has of its employees,” said GM spokesman Greg Martin. “We have no further details to provide.” Ewanick had been seen as a marketing guru in automotive circles.  He devised a successful Hyundai Motor America campaign that offered a refund program when unemployment shot up in 2009 and auto sales slumped.

Apple does not have the highest market share when it comes to smartphones -- unless you just look at wealthier people. According to a new report, when it comes to users whose net worth is more than $100,000, the Cupertino, Calif., company's iPhone and iPad remain the phone and tablet of choice, respectively. And for the most part, Apple's market share only increases the higher up the asset scale you look, according to the report from Spectrem Group, a research firm that specializes in the affluent and retirement markets.

Nine-year-old Oscar Auerswald Carroll's hazel eyes widened with bewilderment when asked which game device he preferred - his Nintendo 3DS or his mother's iPhone 4. After a long pause, the Mar Vista soon-to-be fourth-grader choose his 3DS "because it has two screens. " His momentary struggle highlights the pitched battle between Nintendo and a new generation of smartphones and tablets for the hearts and minds of young gamers. For now, the 3DS is holding its own. Sixteen months after launching the device, Nintendo sold 5.14 million 3DS consoles in the U.S. by the end of June, fueled in part by a 33% price cut in August.

BlackBerry's Research in Motion insists it's not in a "death spiral," but that isn't stopping many companies from preparing - just in case. Most analysts who have been following the Canadian smartphone maker don't think the company will go out of business soon. Still, some companies that have relied on the BlackBerry for years are starting to hand out other smartphones to their employees. Suffolk Construction Co. in Boston has been a RIM customer for more than a decade, but now it is looking to switch most of its 700 BlackBerry-equipped employees to iPhones by the end of the year.

It looks like Google's Ice Cream Sandwich operating system is finally warming up in the smartphone market. Ice Cream Sandwich is now on one out of 10 active Android devices, according to data the company released Tuesday . This comes on the heels of Google's announcement last week of the details of its upcoming Jelly Bean software . The slow growth of Ice Cream Sandwich does not bode well for the adoption of a brand-new operating system....

BlackBerry smartphone maker Research in Motion Limited reported worse-than-expected sales results and will cut 5,000 jobs, the company said Thursday. Research in Motion stock was pummeled after the announcement; it fell $1.61, or nearly 18%, after it resumed trading. Trading the stock was halted pending the earnings release. The company also said it is delaying the release of its anticipated BlackBerry 10 smartphone, on which it has pinned much of its hopes for recovery.

Windows Phone will swing past iOS in the smartphone market share by 2016 to become the second-most-used mobile operating system, a telecom analytics firm predicts. The report by the International Data Corp. says Windows Phone growth will begin picking up, despite a slow start, as a result of Nokia's strength in emerging markets. That growth should bring Windows Phone 19.2% of the market by 2016, which would place it above Apple's iOS, which IDC expects will suffer a slight drop in market share and land at 19%. “Growth will moderate over the five-year forecast, given the large installed base Apple has accumulated, which means more of its addressable market will be on replacement cycles," the report says.

Six out of every 10 smartphones shipped in the first part of 2012 ran Android, two ran iOS and the other two were a tossup, according to a new report released Thursday. Android, Google's smartphone operating system, held a 59% market share during the first quarter of this year, which gave it a year-to-year growth of 145%, according to the International Data Corp. During the first few months of 2012, nearly 90 million Android phones were shipped -- more than twice as many as those by Google's closest competitor, Apple.

Toyota Motor Corp.and Volkswagen are leading a charge of import brands in U.S. auto sales, eating into market-share gains made by the Detroit automakers over the last year. The domestic automakers sold 530,000 vehicles in April, accounting for 44.8% of the market. That share was down from 46.5% in the same month last year, according to Autodata Corp. Asian brands sold 536,000 vehicles in April, accounting for 45.3% of the market. That's up from a share of 44.9% a year earlier.

Toyota and Volkswagen are leading a charge of import brands in U.S. auto sales, eating into market-share gains made by the Detroit automakers over the last year. The domestic automakers sold 530,000 vehicles in April, accounting for 44.8% of the market. That share was down from 46.5% in the same month a year earlier, according to Autodata Corp. Asian brands sold 536,000 vehicles in April, accounting for 45.3% of the market. That's up from a share of 44.9% a year earlier. European car companies sold 118,000 vehicles, accounting for 10% of the market.