Smartphone Sale Soars 39% in Q4 2009: – According to market researcher IDC reported, Vendors shipped a record 54.5 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, 39% more than the 39.2 million shipped in the same quarter in 2008.
Shipments for the year rose to 174.2 million, up 15.1 per cent on the 151.4 million in 2008, and converged devices accounted for 15.4 per cent of shipments in the year, up from 12.7 per cent in 2008.
Apple ranked third in terms of market share in smartphones for the fourth quarter of 2009 and the entire year, behind Nokia and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion.
According to IDC, Nokia “ended the year the same way that it began: as the undisputed leader of converged mobile devices worldwide”.
For all of 2009, Nokia shipped the most smartphones — 67.7 million — and held 39% of the market at year’s end. RIM’s 34.5 million smartphone shipments in 2009 gave it a 20% share of the market last year. Apple held the third highest market share, 14%, with 25 million shipments.
As for operating systems, IDC says to watch for what Symbian and Windows Mobile do this year.