28 October 2006

Nokia still leads the way in smart mobile market

The EMEA smart mobile device market showed familiar trends in the third quarter of 2006, with another rise in shipments and Nokia still leading the way, according to research from analyst Canalys.

Growth in the quarter was 11.7 per cent year on year, compared with 10.6 per cent in Q2 2006.

All other vendors remain some way behind the Nokia as the market leader, Nokia retained a comfortable lead with 75.2 per cent market share. The top performer in terms of growth was High Tech Computer, which recorded 279 per cent of year-on-year growth to stay second ahead of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) for the second quarter running.

Growth in the EMEA smart mobile device market in Q3 rose slightly from the previous quarter, but remains well below the 100%-plus rates seen for most of last year. Nokia’s lead, achieved largely through shipments of its consumer-focused Symbian S60 devices, remains comfortable. With new UIQ models shipping last quarter, fellow Symbian-based vendor Sony Ericsson re-entered the top five (in fourth place) after a long absence, helping take Symbian’s market share up to 78.7% from 76.6% a year earlier.

Sony Ericsson was fourth, ahead of Hewlett-Packard, which suffered a 39.5 per cent drop in growth caused by a shrinking hand-held sector.

In terms of operating systems used on the smart mobile devices, Symbian was the clear leader with 78.7 per cent market share. Microsoft took second place with 16.9 per cent and RIM came third with 3.5 per cent.

Chris Jones, principal analyst at Canalys, said: “The shift in demand for consumer Global Positioning System navigation and a move away from hand-helds to dedicated PNDs [Personal Navigation Devices], can really be seen in these numbers. If the trend continues it would not be surprising to see some vendors scale back their efforts in the hand-held market.”

Jones added that the fourth quarter of the year will be pivotal because it is usually the biggest-selling quarter for smart mobile devices, and underperformance may cause vendors to re-evaluate their positions.

Mark Cope, director at BlackBerry VAR Jem Telecom, said: “With the release of the new BlackBerry Pearl we will see RIM making more headway in the smart mobile device market.”

Cope added that BlackBerry was previously considered more an enterprise device than a smart mobile device.

About Nokia
Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations. www.nokia.com.