New figures from market research firm IDC show that Apple’s shipments of iPhones were up almost 132 percent worldwide during the first quarter of 2010 compared to the year before. But while Apple might get most of the attention in the world of smartphones, Finland’s Nokia is still the top handset maker on the planet…and it’s way out in front of either Apple or RIM. And IDC is forecasting will be a banner year for smartphones as more consumers adopt the devices.
“Consumers will gravitate to smartphones not just because the devices themselves look ‘cool’ and ‘slick’, but because the overall experience aligns with their individual tastes and demands,” said IDC senior research analyst Ramon Llamas, in a statement. “Users are seeking—and finding—experiences that are intuitive, seamless, and fun.”
According to IDC, Nokia is easily the top dog worldwide in the smartphone space, selling 21.5 million units during the first quarter of 2010 to account for a whopping 39.3 percent of the market. That figure is actually flat from the first quarter of 2009, but represents a 56.9 uptick in overall sales, keeping page with the overall expansion of the smartphone market in the last year. Canada’s Research in Motion sold 10.6 million smartphones during the first quarter, up 45.2 percent from a year ago, but that actually represents a decline in market share from 20.9 percent a year ago to 19.4 percent today. Apple moved 8.8 million smartphones—an increase of 131.6 percent from a year ago—and saw its market share increase from 10.9 percent to 16.1 percent.
Rounding out the top five smartphone makers are HTC and Motorola, which captured 2.6 and 2.3 percent of the smartphone market during the first quarter of 2010, respectively. However, IDC notes that they may well be the companies to watch: both pasted year-on-year growth rates (73.3 and 91.7 percent, respectively) that significantly outpaced the smartphone market as a whole, meaning they’re eating into other company’s sales. Both Motorola and HTC have launched a number of Android-based smartphones in the last year.
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