According to Gartner, worldwide mobile phone sales are down about 6% from the same time last year; yet the volume of smartphone sales has increased almost 30% in the same time frame. No doubt the uptick in smartphone sales is due to the release of cool new devices like the iPhone 3GS, the Palm Pre, and the various Android phones coming to market. As expected, Nokia remains king of the hill in terms of both regular and smart phones, though sales of their fancy new N97 have been extremely weak. Compare that with sales of Apple’s iPhone which enjoyed 500% growth in shipments! RIM is number two, yadda yadda yadda.
The whole announcement includes some pretty interesting figures for mobile sales. HTC is the number four smartphone manufacturer, while Palm ranks 10th, with just a little over 200,000 Pres sold. Microsoft holds 9% of the mobile OS market, slightly ahead of Android’s 2%, though expect those two to switch places by this time next year; and Symbian still holds 51% of the OS market.
Not surprised by this news at all. I expect the market for smartphones to continue to increase. This could be the next step in the evolution of the cell phone. Cell phones are dying while the there’s an increase in smartphones. One day basic cell phones will cease to exist. http://ziggytek.com/
With technological advances, and reducing prices, of both memory and processors, a working portable multidevice is on the horizon. The latest smart phones are getting close to offering all one needs in one package. Next Nokia need to develop a good OS and Apple need better hardware. I give it 3 to 5 years! Wonder if other competitors will beat them?
Mobile phone is excellent example of technological advancement in communication. It has become a very essential resource of our daily life. Without mobile phones no one can imagine their life to stay in touch with their relatives or friends who are out of reach because it’s not possible to meet them personally every time. Availability of so many brands of phone makes it easy & possible. So it doesn’t matter, what do you use-cell phone or smartphone, as all these MOBILE!
It’s not surprising at all why smartphones are step by step driving out ordinary mobiles from the mobile phone market. The reason is evident – smartphones are SMART phones with much more functions and gismos.