Global smartphone sales grows 29pc in Q1-08

STAMFORD, USA: Worldwide smartphone sales to end totaled 32.2 million units, a 29.3 percent increase from the first quarter of 2007, according to Gartner, Inc. Highlights from the first quarter of 2008 include:

* Smartphone sales in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) totaled 11.7 million units in the first quarter of 2008, a 38.7 percent increase from the first quarter of 2008.

* In North America, smartphone sales totaled 7.3 million units in the first quarter of 2008, a 106.2 percent increase from the same period last year.

Vendor highlights:

Nokia: During the quarter, Nokia commanded over 45 percent of the global smartphone market, with sales up 25 percent year over year. Nokia continued to maintain its leadership in EMEA, Asia/Pacific and Latin America due to the variety of its smartphone portfolio, which includes a number of both high-end and mid-tier models available at different price points.

Research in Motion: In 1Q08, RIM held onto second place in the global vendor rankings and improved its share to 13.4 percent.  RIM's sales volume has been driven by sales of its prosumer/consumer-focused devices, the BlackBerry Curve and Pearl.  In the U.S. market, RIM maintained its No. 1 ranking with its share totaling 42 percent.

Apple: It moved into the third spot in the global smartphone market with 5.3 percent share. It sold 1.72 million units in the quarter. In the US, Apple became the No. 2 vendor in smartphone sales with its market share reaching with 20 percent.

“Smartphone growth was driven by replacement markets such as Europe, and smartphone sales also benefited from continued growth in the US market, which increased its regional share to almost equal sales in Western Europe,” said Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner, based in Egham, UK. “The beginning of the year was marked by announcements regarding touch screens, smartphone usability and application integration. These key trends had already emerged in the second half of 2007, and during 2008 we can expect them to mature further and become the focus for more handset vendors and carriers as they expand their current portfolios to include more open-platform devices.”

“Despite economic concerns, the smartphone market continued to expand in the United States, driven by heavy advertising and strong marketing promotions as more devices reached mass market price points,” said Hugues De La Vergne, principal analyst for mobile terminals research at Gartner, based in Dallas, Texas. “North American operators are giving these devices strong support, as they provide higher average revenue per unit (ARPU). We expect operators to continue to make these devices the focus of 2008 promotions.”

The table depicts market share results for the worldwide smartphone market in the first quarter of 2008.