The Worst May Be Over for European Mobile

European mobile operators' revenues are not falling as fast as they were, according to a GSMA report.  Aggregate industry revenues declined 7.3% year-on-year in the first two quarters of 2014, compared with 8.4% in the whole of 2013, the report said. Third quarter results from a number of European operators have shown a further improvement in revenue trends, the GSMA added.

Of the five largest economies in Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), the GSMA said the UK has shown the strongest performance, reaching close to stability in the second quarter of 2014 on a year-over-year basis (minus 0.6%), compared with a 5.8% decline in 2013 as a whole. source: GSMA report

2.2 Billion Mobile Internet Users

There were 2.2 billion subscribers to the mobile internet in 2013, representing approximately 30% of the global population, according to GSMA Intelligence. The research firm forecast that an additional 1.6 billion people worldwide will become mobile internet subscribers by 2020, bringing the total number to 3.8 billion, equivalent to half of the world’s expected population in 2020. GSMA Intelligence statement

Samsung's Smartphones Stumble in Asia and Europe

Research firm Gartner said "demand for Samsung’s smartphones [in the third quarter] weakened, mostly in Western Europe and Asia. Samsung’s smartphone sales declined 28.6 percent in China, the biggest market for Samsung."  Gartner also said it expects Apple to experience its biggest ever fourth-quarter sales, "with both of its large-screen phones seeing demand exceed supply since their launch."  Source: Gartner statement

For analysis of why Samsung is losing ground to Apple at the high-end of the smartphone market, please see my report for STL Partners: Samsung and Google versus Apple?