Bull market
Market researcher IDC has revealed that 54.7 million smartphones were shipped in the first quarter of this year. That represents growth of 56/7 percent on the same quarter a year ago and is more than double the growth rate of the overall mobile phone market.
"2010 looks to be another year of large-scale consumer adoption of converged mobile devices," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst at IDC. "Users are seeking - and finding - experiences that are intuitive, seamless, and fun. Already, we've seen what Palm's webOS and Google's Android can do. This year, we expect updates for BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile to spark greater smartphone demand with their offerings."
And IDC expects more of the same for the rest of the year. "More consumers are aware of smartphones now due to positive referrals from friends and family and manufacturer's mass media campaigns," said fellow analyst Kevin Restivo. "Coupled with increased confidence on the part of consumers, these factors will create a perfect storm of demand for suppliers this year."
Considering its well-documented struggles to come up with an iPhone killer, it's surprising to see that Nokia maintained its leadership of the smartphone market with no loss of market share. Furthermore second-placed RIM, which has had a good run recently, actually lost a bit of market share.
Unsurprisingly the big winner has been Apple, which saw an increase in iPhone sales of over 130 percent. It now looks set to overtake RIM as the number two smartphone maker before long.
Top Five Converged Mobile Device Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, Q1 2010 (Units in Millions)
|
Vendor |
1Q10 Volumes |
1Q10 Market Share |
1Q09 Volumes |
1Q09 Market Share |
1Q10/1Q09 Change |
|
1. Nokia |
21.5 |
39.3% |
13.7 |
39.3% |
56.9% |
|
2. Research In Motion |
10.6 |
19.4% |
7.3 |
20.9% |
45.2% |
|
3. Apple |
8.8 |
16.1% |
3.8 |
10.9% |
131.6% |
|
4. HTC |
2.6 |
4.8% |
1.5 |
4.3% |
73.3% |
|
5. Motorola |
2.3 |
4.2% |
1.2 |
3.4% |
91.7% |
|
Others |
8.9 |
16.3% |
7.2 |
20.6% |
23.6% |
|
Total |
54.7 |
100.0% |
34.9 |
100.0% |
56.7% |
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, May 6, 2010
Note: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.
