Smartphone Market Had a Remarkable Q4 2009

A recent report from ABI Research demonstrates that the smartphone market showed a remarkable growth during the fourth quarter of the last year. While the fourth quarter is usually the best one when it comes to sales performance of handsets, last year's final three months period registered impressively strong sales of smartphones when compared to the previous nine months of the year.

“4Q 2009 saw 25% more smartphones shipped than 3Q. Granted, the fourth quarter is usually better than the third, but 3Q saw only a 3.6% growth over the second quarter. The robust strength of this market’s recovery is very encouraging indeed,” analyst Michael Morgan commented on the finding of the new ABI Research report.

According to the research firm, those who rejoiced the most were individual vendors, Apple had the best smartphone quarter, while Nokia also did very well, with 21 million smartphones shipped in the time frame, compared to the 15-16 million units it usually ships. Moreover, it seems that RIM, the market of BlackBerry, also registered a great fourth quarter.

ABI Research notes that the falling price tags of smartphones contributed a lot to the high performance registered by these devices, since they appeal to more customers. While Nokia placed a big bet on the economic factor, the iPhone managed to maintain its leverage, although it has been outsold in some markets by handsets like the BlackBerry Curve.

“While all regions performed well, North America – helped by mobile operators’ subsidies – led the pack in smartphone market growth at 30%, with Western Europe and APAC following considerably behind. Africa, the Middle East and Latin America all showed growth in the mid-high 20 percents, although of course they were starting from very low baselines,” the research firm notes.

According to Morgan, the United States has become the leading market for smartphone ‘mindshare.’ Vendors which register success here expect to register it in other parts of the world too, he notes. The ABI Research “Smartphone Quarterly Forecast and Features” report is available on the firm's website. It provides global and regional details on smartphone operating systems, ASPs, vendor market shares, revenues and more.