By: Angela Soric
Recent data released by Gartner research firm found that the iPhone has taken 17.1 percent share of the worldwide Smartphone market in as little as 3 months! Shares are expected to grow even more in the fourth quarter.
The surge in share growth is partly due to the iPhone expansion in China as well as the addition of new carries in multiple countries.
According to Gartner, Nokia (the market leader) took 39.3 percent of the worldwide market, shipping 16.16 million Smartphones. That was up from 15.47 million in the third quarter of 2008, but represented a smaller percentage of the overall market. Last year, Nokia took 42.3 percent of sales. The company’s 2009 share represents its lowest ever.
RIM shipped an estimated 8.52 million handsets during the quarter, earning it 20.8 percent of sales. The company also grew its share, up from 15.9 percent in the same period in 2008, when it shipped 5.8 million Smartphones, an increase of 46.9 percent.
Smartphone Growth
“Many devices will reach the market in time for Christmas, and mobile carriers will run incentives for consumers during the holidays, we expect sales of mobile devices in the fourth quarter of 2009 to show year-over-year growth”. -Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner.
