Mr. McCourt conducted a survey of 500 people in the U.S. from March 13 to 17. He wrote:
The percent of survey respondents who owned iPhones declined q/q [quarter over quarter] to 52.3% from a high of 56% in December, but was up from 49.4% a year ago. iPhone share likely to continue to be stable: 49.7% of respondents intend to purchase an iPhone for their next smartphone, which is at the low end of the 50% to 55% range witnessed in our survey since we began in June 2012. Meanwhile, Android saw its highest level of purchase intent at 44.4%, above the consistent range of 38% to 42% since the survey began. The survey indicates still little to no interest in Blackberry or Windows Phones.
He also noted that Samsung continues make market share gains in the Android market and to consolidate its position there. While Android, overall, might make slight market share gains in the near future, he expects the situation stabilize with respect to the iPhone.
Meanwhile, McCourt's prognosis for the number three and four smartphone makers is dire. Only 2.9 percent of those surveyed intend to purchase Windows Phone while 0.8 percent have a BlackBerry mind. Worse, those numbers have been steadily declining since September, 2013.
For Apple to be in a strong second place in the U.S. and generating most of the smartphone profits in the industry is not a bad place to be and reminds us how far Apple has come since its initial foray into the market in 2007. For example, it's estimated that at some point in the current quarter, Apple sold its 500 millionth iPhone.