According to IDC

Nov 5, 2009 18:41 GMT  ·  By

The global market for smartphones is registering steady growth although the world has been affected by the financial turmoil, a recent report for IDC notes. IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows that a total number of 43.3 million smartphones have been shipped during this year’s third quarter, marking a 4.2 percent growth from the 41.5 million units shipped during the same time frame a year ago, and up 3.2 percent when compared to the 41.9 million shipments from the second quarter of 2009.

“Demand for converged mobile devices (smartphones) has remained strong all year,” said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. “These devices provide more utility and entertainment than traditional mobile phones. Moreover, users have plenty of devices from which to choose, whether it be a multimedia powerhouse, a messaging machine, or a social networking tool. As users expect greater functionality from their devices beyond telephony, we believe the converged mobile device market to grow faster than the overall mobile phone market.”

The top five mobile phone vendors in the quarter are Nokia, Research In Motion, Apple, HTC and Samsung, IDC states. Nokia maintained its leading position courtesy of its Nokia N97 smartphone, though the company still sees slow sales in North America. RIM too registered growth in Q3, and also managed to release two phones in the time frame, the BlackBerry Tour and the BlackBerry Curve 8520.

Apple succeeded in selling the largest number of iPhones in a quarter, due to lower price tags for iPhone 3G and the launch of iPhone 3GS. HTC was placed fourth in the quarter, and remains the largest provider of Windows Mobile-powered handsets, while also increasing its Android lineup. Samsung managed to return to the top, due to market share improvements in Asia/Pacific, Latin America, and EMEA, and thanks to the launch of both Windows Mobile and Android smartphones.

“With the release of Android-based handsets from several different OEMs, most recently Motorola, but also HTC, Samsung LG, and Sony Ericsson, the buzz surrounding Android OS is reaching critical mass,” added William Stofega, research manager with IDC's Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team. “HTC was first to come to market with an Android device, other vendors took longer to develop their Android portfolio. However, the release of new Android devices has picked up dramatically over the past several months and the release of version 2.0 demonstrates that Android is rapidly evolving and responsive to suggestions from OEMs and developers. With an expanding portfolio of handsets and a just released update of the code, Android is poised to mount a serious challenge to the incumbent smartphone OEMs for the first time in its brief history.”