Strong smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 pushed Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) upmobile in the 2010 worldwide ranking of device manufacturers to the No.5 and No.4 positions, respectively, displacing Sony Ericsson and Motorola, according to the latest Gartner report released on Wednesday.
"Nokia and LG also saw their market share erode in 2010 as they came under increasing pressure to refine their smartphone strategies," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.
Worldwide mobile device sales to end users totalled 1.6 billion units in 2010, a 31.8 per cent increase from 2009. Smartphone sales to end users surged 72.1 per cent from 2009 and accounted for 19 per cent of total mobile communications device sales in 2010, the report states.
Overall, the mobile device market showed less seasonality than in previous years in markets, such as Western Europe and North America.
MOBILE PCs A BIG HIT IN INDIA Sales of the combined desk-based and mobile PC market in India touched the 2.7 million units mark in the fourth quarter of 2010, a 16.2 per cent increase over the fourth quarter of 2009, according to Gartner. The growth rate was more than five times the worldwide PC market's growth average in the fourth quarter of 2010. "This growth was primarily driven by the mobile PC market, which grew 39 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010," said Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst at Gartner. A fall in prices, large deals from governments and demand from consumers and the education sector drove mobile PCs sales. Many small- and midsize businesses are buying mobile PCs, which is further fuelling growth, the report states. All major PC vendors experienced high double-digit growth in mobile PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2010. |