Strategy Analytics reports

May 4, 2010 16:41 GMT  ·  By

Worldwide smartphone shipments went up by 50 percent in the first quarter of the ongoing year when compared to the same time frame a year ago, a recent report from Strategy Analytics unveiled. The research firm notes that shipments reached 54 million units in the time frame, marking the strongest period of growth in the past three years and showing that the smartphone segment remains a leader area in the mobile phone market during recession.

“Global smartphone shipments reached 54 million units during Q1 2010, accounting for 18 percent of handset volumes, and growing a huge 50 percent from 36 million in Q1 2009. This was the strongest period of growth for almost 3 years and the high-value smartphone market is leading the handset industry out of recession. Sales are being driven by healthy operator subsidies, vigorous competition between vendors and a growing tide of lower-cost models using operating software like Symbian and Android,” Tom Kang, director at Strategy Analytics, commented.

According to Strategy Analytics’ Q1 2010 Global Smartphone Market Share Update report, Nokia managed to ship a number of 21.5 million smartphones in the three-month period, growing by around 57 percent when compared to the 13.7 million units shipped a year ago. The research firm states that China, South America and Africa Middle East were the markets where Nokia performed best, adding that the leading handset vendor had issues in North America.

Canadian mobile phone maker Research in Motion topped 10.6 million smartphone shipments in the first quarter if the year, leaving Apple behind with its 8.8 million units shipped globally. RIM managed to become the largest smartphone vendor of North American origin, yet its annual growth rate went down to only 45 percent in Q1 2010, and the upcoming Blackberry OS 6.0 upgrade is seen as a much needed change.

Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics, added, “The global smartphone market will head in two broad directions this year. Some smartphone vendors, such as Nokia, will chase growing mid-tier volumes in emerging markets such as China and India. Other brands, such as Motorola, will focus on mature markets like the US and explore a new wave of services beyond Internet browsing and email such as high-quality video and navigation.”