Smart phones on a tear

Omar El Akkad

Smart phones are quickly replacing traditional cells, and companies such as Research In Motion and Apple are reaping the benefits, according to the latest sales numbers.

Smart-phone sales

The smart-phone sales subset experienced meteoric growth in the first quarter of 2010 over the same quarter last year. The Gartner survey showed smart-phone sales jumped 48.7 per cent, with 54.3 million units sold during the first three months of this year.

Mobile sales

Worldwide mobile-phone sales jumped 17 per cent in 2010 during the same period, according to a survey by research firm Gartner, Inc. In all, manufacturers sold 314.7 million units in the first quarter.

As a result of the boom in smart phones sales, Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM saw its share of the overall market jump 0.7 percentage points to 3.4 per cent, good for fourth on Gartner’s list of global mobile-phone manufacturers.

Apple also saw market share rise 1.2 percentage points, to 2.7 per cent. Both companies’ cellphone offerings consist only of smart phones.

Samsung, which has worked on developing more powerful smart phones in recent years, also increased its market share to 20.6 per cent, from 19.1.

Other major players weren’t so lucky. Nokia, the world’s leading mobile-phone manufacturer, lost 1.2 percentage points, but still commands a healthy lead with 35 per cent of the global market. Although the company has built more capable phones, a significant portion of its sales come from traditional cellphones. LG, Sony Ericsson and Motorola also lost market share in the first quarter.

Android-based phones

Although Google’s Android operating system for mobile phones did not make Gartner’s list of specific manufacturers (because numerous devices use the software), the research firm said sales of Android-based phones jumped a whopping 707 per cent year-over-year, as the relatively young operating system continues to gain momentum.