The third quarter of 2010 produced record sales of more than 81 million communication devices based on open operating systems (smartphones). Android accounted for 25.5 percent of worldwide smartphone sales, making it the No. 2 operating system (OS). It was particularly dominant in North America.
Apple’s iOS, on the other hand, dropped from last year, from 17.1 percent in 2009 to 16.6 percent in 2010. Symbian took the top spot with 36.6 percent of sales share.
In the third quarter of 2010, Nokia sold 110.4 million units into the channel. This resulted in a market share decline of 8.5 percentage points from the third quarter of 2009. But shortages of low-end devices also encouraged many consumers to buy a more expensive product. Combined with favorable currency exchange rates, this meant Nokia’s financial results were better than expected.
Samsung had a strong third quarter, as mobile phone sales reached 71.7 million handsets in the third quarter of 2010, up 18.2 percent from the third quarter of 2009. Samsung sold close to 1 million bada devices in the third quarter of 2010, and 6.6 million Android phones, making Samsung the top Android seller.
LG sold 27.5 million mobile devices in the third quarter of 2010, as its global market share dropped to 6.6 percent.
Apple delivered a stellar performance in the third quarter of 2010, selling 13.5 million units.
RIM sold 11.9 million devices to end users in the third quarter of 2010, and its global share of the smartphone market fell to 14.8 percent. RIM’s share of the overall North American market declined to 11.2 percent in the third quarter of 2010, from 12.7 percent in the third quarter of 2009. RIM lost its leading smartphone market position to Apple.
SOURCE gartner.com
