Smartphones, QMDs strong in 2009

According to Forrester Research 2009 was a banner year for the smartphone market with sales growth on pace with 2008 and growing from 7% share of the U.S. adult population at the end of 2007 to 17% share at the end of 2009.
The firm noted that Research In Motion Ltd. continued to dominate the smartphone space in 2009 sporting a two-to-one advantage in sales compared with Apple Inc.’s iPhone.
“Certainly broad availability across all operators and a range of form factors and prices helps, but also some people just want a keyboard, full stop,” noted Forrester’s principal analyst Charles Golvin on the company’s blog.
A pre-Consumer Electronics Show report from The Nielsen Co. showed similar results with 18% of mobile devices in the hands of consumers considered smartphones, up from 13% in 2008. Nielsen also reported that RIM had three of the five top selling smartphones in 2009, consisting of the handset maker’s Curve (No. 1), Storm (No. 4) and Pearl (No. 5) model lines, with Apple’s iPhone 3G (No. 2) and 3GS (No. 3) rounding out the list.
While smartphones continued their strong growth, Forrester noted that quick-messaging devices that sport a keyboard, but run simple, closed operating systems, posted growth rates that outpaced their smarter cousins in 2009. According to the research firm, QMD penetration nearly doubled in 20008 to reach 9% of adult mobile users and nearly eclipsed the smartphones overall market share in 2009 posting a 15% share of adult users.
“Think about it — nearly one in every three US adult mobile phone subscribers now has either a smartphone or a QMD, up from one in five less than a year earlier,” Golvin noted.
As for 2010, Golvin has this year down as the year of the smartphone thanks to multiple carriers offering Google Inc.’s Android operating system and a greater range of form factors and prices. But, with growth expected to continue for RIM and Apple, Forrester warns that Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc. could be in for a tough year unless consumers warm towards their offerings.