14 DAY TRIAL // Japan-based market research firm Techno Systems Research (TSR) recently stated that 17 percent of the total number of mobile phones shipped during the ongoing year would be smartphones. According to TSR, although the overall handset shipments are expected to decline by 10 percent during 2009, smartphone shipments will increase by 20 percent on a yearly basis, reaching 183.6 million units.
The research firm also states that the demand on smartphones is increasing mainly due to the great expansion 3G services have seen lately, along with the use of Internet on mobile phones and the appearance of a wide range of application stores. Thus, smartphones are expected to account for 27.9 percent of the mobile handset market, TSR said.
When it comes to the phone makers, Nokia is expected to see the highest market share, 34.7 percent, although the company's high-end devices have seen slow traction on the market during the latest years. According to the research firm, the Finnish phone maker will use both Symbian and Maemo to power its future handsets.
The second position on the smartphone market is expected to be held by Research In Motion, as it has a large market share in North America. The third place should go to Apple and its iPhone, the firm explained. Samsung should also see strong market share this year, followed by Taiwanese maker HTC, which is also trying to gain more ground on the market.
On the smartphone operating system area, Symbian will maintain the lead, accounting for around 44 percent of the market and it is obvious that the platform is losing ground due to the poor traction on the market that Nokia's devices register. The top OSes list continues with BlackBerry on the second position, followed by Windows Mobile on the third, and iPhone OS on the fourth.
The research firm also stated that Google's Android was expected to see a small market share during the ongoing year, with only a number of 6.2 million devices running under it being shipped this year, although it will increase its share in the long term, leading the market along with Symbian.