Research firm IDC has released the results of its survey of worldwide smartphone sales for the fourth quarter of 2010, finding Apple holding onto the same second-place ranking it earned last quarter as the top manufacturers see their shares decline slightly as small vendors ride the Android wave to greater sales.
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Worldwide Smartphone Sales in 4Q10 in Millions of Units (Source: IDC)
According to the results, Apple's 16.1% share of the smartphone market in the fourth quarter trailed only Nokia's 28.0% share and came in solidly ahead of Research in Motion and its 14.5% share. Apple's share dipped slightly from the 17.4% share it held in the previous quarter, and came in on par with the same 16.1% share the company held in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Apple's iPhone gained more ground in the worldwide smartphone market, with shipment volume growth coming from Asia/Pacific and Japan. In addition, Apple made further inroads into the enterprise market, with more companies adding Apple to their approved smartphone list and increased development of corporate-centered applications. Rumors of an iPhone 5 have begun to heat up the blogosphere, with many expecting a new design and perhaps a mobile wallet.
Consequently, Apple's 86.2% year-over-year growth essentially mirrored the smartphone industry's overall growth rate of 87.2%, with major players Nokia and Research in Motion checking in at only 36% growth while Android-focused manufacturers such as Samsung (438.9%) and HTC (258.3%) saw tremendous growth in market share, but not enough to overtake the three leaders. Total smartphone sales topped 100 million in the quarter for the first time in history.
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Worldwide Smartphone Sales in 2010 in Millions of Units (Source: IDC)
In looking at full-year results for 2010, Research in Motion edged out Apple by a margin of 16.1% to 15.7%, although the gap was much smaller than the 5.4 percentage point difference seen in 2009.