Competitors catching up fast to Nokia

Asavin Wattanajantra

Nokia still leads the competition in the smartphone market, but its market dominance is being challenged by a group of young pups led by Android, said Canalys.

Shipments of phones running Android grew by a massive 886 per cent, with companies such as HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG running the Google mobile OS.

Nokia still retained the lead with a record 23.8 million smartphones sold in the second quarter of 2010, and took a 38 per cent market share. This was a growth of 41 per cent on a year ago and was due to its focus on affordable touchscreen devices.

RIM BlackBerry shipments grew by 41 per cent due to strong performance of devices like the Curve and the Bold. Apple sales were strong due to sales of the iPhone 4, and made sure that it had a worldwide market share of 13 per cent.

Canalys VP and Principal Analyst, Chris Jones said the research clearly revealed the impressive momentum Android is gaining in markets around the world,’

“In the United States, for example, we have seen the largest carrier, Verizon Wireless, heavily promoting high-profile Android devices, such as the Droid by Motorola and the Droid Incredible by HTC”.

“These products have been well received by the market, with consumers eager to download and engage with mobile applications and services, such as Internet browsing, social networking, games and navigation.”