Australia IT site Delimiter revealed some surprising numbers for the fourth quarter of 2011, revealing Apple as a player in a league of its own in the Australian market.

Citing a source from analyst firm Telsyte, Delimiter reported that as many as 3.7 million iPhones operate in Australia, up from just 700,000 in 2009. This gives Apple a market position of 42%, up from estimates of about 30-35%.

This info comes on the heels of a report from US analysts Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, who estimate up to a third of recent iPhone 4S buyers were already smartphone users, coming over from BlackBerry and Android.

Worldwide trend

Apple shipped a total of 37 million iPhones worldwide in the final quarter of 2011, and 15 million iPads. This puts Apple briefly ahead of Samsung in smartphones (Samsung shipped 35 million) and almost without competition in the tablet market. Even though Apple’s worldwide share of tablets slipped from 69% to 65%, the proportion in Australia may be as much as 80%, according to the same info from Telsyte. Australia may be a special case, with the popular Samsung Galaxy Tab only recently winning the right to sell in Australia after a lengthy legal battle from Apple trying to stop it, citing concerns of patent infringement.

The high sales are feeding themselves. More apple products means app developers are more keen to develop for the Apple’s App Store, which builds up the app ecosystem. This drives more and more sales.
Apple is expected to announce a refresh of the 8 month old iPad soon, and a new iPhone by the middle of the year. Competitors Nokia, BlackBerry, Sony Ericsson and HTC are rapidly losing pace, while Samsung and Apple vie for supremacy in the Australian market.

iPhones are available on all Australian carriers, with Optus offering the flagship iPhone 4S for $10 a month on its $49 cap, over a 24 month contract. Vodafone offers the 4S for $5 on the same plan.