Smartphone sales grew 72 per cent in 2010

SMARTPHONE MAKERS Apple and RIM have toppled Sony Ericsson and Motorola from their spots on the slippery tree that is mobile device manufacturer rankings.

Mobile manufacturing rankings might not sound like much fun, but totting them up keeps the market analysts at Gartner busy, and we have to thank its beancounters for the news that smartphones like the Iphone and Blackberry are some of today's must-have gadgets.

Smartphone sales grew by around 72 per cent in the last twelve months and make up roughly 20 per cent of all mobile shipments. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the consumer appeal of the Iphone and the office friendly apps of the Blackberry have pushed Apple and RIM into the higher shipment echelons, while other firms were less lucky.

"Strong smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 pushed Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) up in our 2010 worldwide ranking of mobile device manufacturers to the No. 5 and No. 4 positions, respectively, displacing Sony Ericsson and Motorola," said Carolina Milanesi, research VP at Gartner.

"Nokia and LG saw their market share erode in 2010 as they came under increasing pressure to refine their smartphone strategies."

Market shortages might have held back some sales, according to Milanesi, and Gartner found that popular components, including touchscreens and cameras, were lacking at the end of last year. RIM in particular was accused of failing to rise to market demand, and Gartner said this could get worse if shortages are not addressed.

"Shortages will be a long-term consideration for mobile device vendors, because other fast-growing categories of connected consumer devices, such as media tablets, are competing for the same components," added Milanesi.

Nokia sold the most devices in the year and has 30 per cent market share, Samsung was second with 18 percent, LG third with seven per cent, and RIM and Apple had two and three per cent, respectively.

Although smartphones have performed well, the mobile phone market as a whole fell. Gartner reported that mobile shipments in 2010 declined 7.5 per cent against 2009, but that was still worth some 461.3 million units. µ