Apple’s iPhone is emerging as king of the corporate world as global shipments of smartphones reached a new peak. Defying speculation about a global recession, worldwide smartphone shipments climbed to just shy of 40 million units in the third quarter, according to the latest estimates from Canalys. That means smartphones now represent about 13 percent of the total mobile-phone market, up from 11 percent in the second quarter.
The iPhone 3G’s introduction in July led the charge.
Apple’s expansion into many countries around the globe helped the company scale to second place worldwide, outshining Research In Motion in the quarter and boasting higher shipments than all Microsoft-based smartphones combined. Nokia remained the market leader despite a sales decline.
Corporations Don’t Overlook Apple
It was expected that Apple would figure among the smartphone leaders for the quarter, with a huge initial new-product shipment; it was just a question of how high it would be, according to Pete Cunningham, Canalys senior analyst. Despite RIM being nudged into third place, he said, its growth of more than 80 percent shouldn’t be overlooked.
“This is also a tremendous performance, especially considering the delays it experienced in rolling out the BlackBerry Bold,” Cunningham said. “Some customers will also have been waiting for the Storm to arrive. With these new products and the clamshell Pearl 8220 available in Q4, it is quite feasible that RIM will return to the number-two position.”
Apple has done well in its efforts to unseat entrenched players like RIM and Microsoft Windows Mobile solutions that have owned the business market for years, said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile strategy for Jupitermedia. But one of the most interesting aspects of the iPhone is J.D. Power’s recent report that the device had the “highest satisfaction of any business device.”
“There’s a keyword in there: Business device,” Gartenberg…