Smartphone growth nearly doubled the overall mobile phone market in the first quarter, with vendors shipping 54.7 million units. That’s up 56.7 percent from the year-ago period, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
By contrast, the overall mobile phone market grew only 21.7 percent.
The fourth quarter is typically the strongest quarter of the year, so the fact that first quarter smartphone shipments were even stronger is telling. The industry saw 38 percent growth in the fourth quarter. IDC said this signals both the tremendous potential of the market and how far the market dropped in the year-ago period.
Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Devices Technology and Trends team, says 2010 looks to be another year of large-scale consumer adoption of converged mobile devices.
“Consumers will gravitate to smartphones not just because the devices themselves look ‘cool’ and ‘slick’, but because the overall experience aligns with their individual tastes and demands,” Llamas said. “Users are seeking — and finding — experiences that are intuitive, seamless, and fun. Already, we’ve seen what Palm’s webOS and Google’s Android can do. This year, we expect updates for BlackBerry, Symbian, and Windows Mobile to spark greater smartphone demand with their offerings.”
Greater awareness, increasingly affordable data plans, and the global economic recovery will drive higher smartphone sales in 2010, said Kevin Restivo, senior analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker.
“More consumers are aware of smartphones now due to positive referrals from friends and family and manufacturer’s mass media campaigns,” said Restivo. “Coupled with increased confidence on the part of consumers, these factors will create a perfect storm of demand for suppliers this year.”
Nokia maintained its position as the leading smartphone vendor worldwide in the first quarter. Nokia introduced several new models, including the C3, C6, and…