RIM, HTC Big Winners in Q2 Smartphone Sales

Gartner says worldwide smartphone sales were up 16 percent in the second quarter of 2008, with RIM and HTC showing strong year-on-year gains.

According to market research firm Gartner, Canada’s Research in Motion (RIM) and Taiwan’s HTC were the big winners in worldwide smartphone sales during the second quarter of 2008, both showing year-on-year increased of more than 100 percent. Although Finland’s Nokia remains the market leader, accounting for just over half of all smartphones sold in the quarter, industry watchers warn it needs to push new ideas out the door if it expects to maintain its lead.

“To stay competitive, Nokia will need to introduce more design variations amongst its N-series models and keep innovating,” said Gartner principal analyst Roberta Cozza, in a statement. “The expected introduction of a touch-screen smartphone in the second half of 2008 will test the company’s capability to show differentiation and innovation.”

The news isn’t all good for the global smartphone market: although growth in the United States was strong during the quarter, over all sales growth was almost half of what it showed during the first quarter, down to 15.7 percent. Gartner attributed the lower growth rate to a lackluster economic outlook, which caused many users to hold on to their existing phones and put off upgrades. Although there are also regional sales variations—for instance, Japan saw a 24 percent decline in smartphone sales for the quarter.

Overall, Nokia moved almost 15.3 million smartphones in the quarter, with RIM coming in second with almost 5.6 million units sold. HTC took third played with 1.33 million units and Sharp was right behind with 1.32 million units. RIM’s and HTC’s sales represented 12.64 and 119.6 percentage increases compared to the same quarter of 2007, while Sharp’s numbers represented a 41.6 percent decline.

Fujitsu sold almost 1.1 million units, and all other makers accounted for almost 7.6 million units. “Other” in this case includes Apple, which was selling out existing stock of its original iPhone prior to the introduction of the iPhone 3G at the beginning of the third calendar quarter.

“Wider availability of new touch smartphone models together with the global introduction of the iPhone 3G will help sales of smartphones return to stronger growth in the third quarter of 2008,” said Cozza.