Scores of industry reports looking at worldwide mobile sales depict a surging smartphone market, but one party to little movement between the various major players.
That's a criticism that cannot be laid at the door of Gartner's latest summary, with the firm's numbers painting two clear pictures.
One that depicts Nokia losing more than 8 percent of its global market share, the other the continued rise of Android, which now sits as the second largest smartphone OS in the world.
Nokia nosedive
Smartphone sales, as a whole, continue to rise, up 96 percent year-on-year in Q3 2010 and accounting for 19.3 percent of the 417 million devices sold across the quarter equal to around 81 million units.
Nokia's market leading share of such sales, however, remains in decline. Gartner claims the Finnish firm holds 28.2 percent of the worldwide mobile market a fall of 8.5 percent from the same quarter last year, and one that represents Nokia's lowest global share since 1999.
Gartner states a shortage of components held Nokia shipments back in Q3 2010, the result of which was consumers moved from its out-of-stock low end devices to the high end smartphones manufactured by its rivals.
It's the ascent of these rivals that means Samsung also lost market share, despite selling 10 million more units across the quarter year-on-year according to Gartner's figures.
In turn, both Apple and RIM saw their shares climb, with strong demand for iPhone 4 crowning Apple as one of the top five mobile manufacturers in the world for the first time in its history.
Google on the gain
Gartner's analysis of smartphone formats tells a similar story. Symbian remains the top platform in the world, but its share has fallen to 36.6 percent down 8 percent year-on-year.
It's Android, however, that looks poised to take over at the top, with Google's share up 22 percent from Q3 2009 to 25.5 percent in the latest quarter, moving the OS into second spot ahead of both iOS on 16.7 percent and BlackBerry on 14.8 percent.
Android, iOS and BlackBerry all saw sales rise across the quarter in total, all three sold 45.9 million units in Q3 2010, compared to just under 17 million in Q3 2009 but Google's platform appears to be stealing share from its two rivals, with Samsung's Galaxy S a particularly strong performer.
"Smartphone OS providers have entered a period of accelerated platform evolution, stimulated by more regular product releases, new platform entrants and new device types," said Gartner's principle research analyst Roberta Cozza.
"Any platform that fails to innovate quickly either through a vibrant multi-player ecosystem or clear vision of a single controlling entity will lose developers, manufacturers, potential partners and ultimately users."
Gartner's full report can be downloaded for $1,295 from the firm's website.
News
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.
Related Articles
Top Stories
News
5 hours ago
A third of developers implementing new payment options in face of Digital Markets Act’s $18 billion opportunity
News
5 hours, 30 minutes ago
More Xbox cutbacks hit ZeniMax with only Microsoft’s mobile ventures now unscathed
News
5 hours ago
A third of developers implementing new payment options in face of Digital Markets Act’s $18 billion opportunity
Feature
May 7th, 2024
Mobile Mavens: The industry has its say on Squad Busters ability to draw in “untapped audiences” with its “influence from a range of genres”
Feature
May 7th, 2024
Hot Five: Supercell’s Squad Busters supremacy, Brawl Stars bounces back, and a games industry journey at King
Events
Valencia Indie Summit 2024 | Europe | May 16th |
Digital Dragons | Europe | May 19th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |
Future Games Show 2024 | Jun 8th | |
PC Gaming Show 2024 | Jun 9th | |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |