Framingham, Mass. – Growth from Google’s (NASD: GOOG) Android and Apple’s (NASD: AAPL)
iPhone helped spur worldwide smartphone shipments to rise 74.4% in 2010, to
302.6 million units, according to a report from market research firm IDC.
In
the fourth quarter, vendors shipped 100.9 million smartphones, up 87.2% from
the 53.9 million shipped during the fourth quarter of 2009.
Market leader
Nokia’s (NYSE: NOK) share of the market fell to 33.1% in 2010, from 39% in 2009, while BlackBerry maker
RIM’s (NASD: RIMM) share also declined, from 20% in 2009 to 16.1% in 2010.
Meanwhile, Apple
saw its share of worldwide smartphone shipments rise from 14.5% in 2009 to
15.7% last year.
Samsung and HTC, which both make smartphones that run Google’s
Android operating system, both rose sharply in 2010, accounting for a combined 18.1%
of the market.
"Android continues to gain by leaps and bounds, helping to
drive the smartphone market," said Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst
with IDC.
"It has become the cornerstone of multiple vendors’ smartphone
strategies, and has quickly become a challenger to market leader Symbian.
Although Symbian has the backing of market leader Nokia, Android has multiple
vendors, including HTC, LG Electronics, Motorola, Samsung and a growing list of
companies deploying Android on their devices."
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