READING, United Kingdom—The worldwide smart mobile device market is in flux, according to a new study from market research firm Canalys.
The firm defines smart mobile devices as handhelds, wireless handhelds and smart phones.
According to the study, top-ranked Nokia Corp. slightly increased its market share for smart mobile devices despite a sequential fall in quarterly smart-phone shipments largely through sales of its popular multimedia models like the N70. Research in Motion Ltd. strengthened its second-place position and overtook Palm Inc. both globally and in the United States for the first time in the category. Canalys attributed Palm’s slip to third in the worldwide rankings to lack of traction for the Treo device outside the United States.
The handheld market saw a 25-percent decrease worldwide. The only top-five vendor showing growth in the category was Mio Technology, which was up 7 percent, said the report.
However, the converged device arena is showcasing the most significant changes.
“In addition to the shipment increases made by Nokia and RIM, Japanese vendors such as Mitsubishi [Electric Corp.] and Sharp [Corp.] have achieved very high volumes of their new Symbian-based FOMA smart phones in Q1, catapulting them into the global top five,” said Rachel Lashford, senior analyst and research manager at Canalys. “With increased shipments from Fujitsu, and a new device from Sony Ericsson, Symbian is enjoying not only significant Japanese market success, but also seeing record global market share.”
