Gartner Says Worldwide Smartphone Sales Grew 29 Percent in First Quarter of 2008

STAMFORD, Conn., June 6, 2008 —

Worldwide smartphone sales to end totaled 32.2 million units, a 29.3 percent increase from the first quarter of 2007, according to Gartner, Inc.

Highlights from the first quarter of 2008 include:

• Smartphone sales in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) totaled 11.7 million units in the first quarter of 2008, a 38.7 percent increase from the first quarter of 2008
• In North America, smartphone sales totaled 7.3 million units in the first quarter of 2008, a 106.2 percent increase from the same period last year.

Vendor Highlights

• Nokia: during the quarter, Nokia commanded over 45 percent of the global smartphone market, with sales up 25 percent year over year. Nokia continued to maintain its leadership in EMEA, Asia/Pacific and Latin America due to the variety of its smartphone portfolio, which includes a number of both high-end and mid-tier models available at different price points.
• Research in Motion: in 1Q08, RIM held onto second place in the global vendor rankings and improved its share to 13.4 percent.  RIM's sales volume has been driven by sales of its prosumer/consumer-focused devices, the BlackBerry Curve and Pearl.  In the U.S. market, RIM maintained its No. 1 ranking with its share totaling 42 percent.
• Apple moved into the third spot in the global smartphone market with 5.3 percent share. It sold 1.72 million units in the quarter. In the U.S., Apple became the No. 2 vendor in smartphone sales with its market share reaching with 20 percent.

Analyst Comments:

“Smartphone growth was driven by replacement markets such as Europe, and smartphone sales also benefited from continued growth in the U.S. market, which increased its regional share to almost equal sales in Western Europe,” said Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner, based in Egham, UK. “The beginning of the year was marked by announcements regarding touch screens, smartphone usability and application integration. These key trends had already emerged in the second half of 2007, and during 2008 we can expect them to mature further and become the focus for more handset vendors and carriers as they expand their current portfolios to include more open-platform devices.”

“Despite economic concerns, the smartphone market continued to expand in the United States, driven by heavy advertising and strong marketing promotions as more devices reached mass market price points,” said Hugues De La Vergne, principal analyst for mobile terminals research at Gartner, based in Dallas, Texas. “North American operators are giving these devices strong support, as they provide higher average revenue per unit (ARPU). We expect operators to continue to make these devices the focus of 2008 promotions.”

Below is a table depicting market share results for the worldwide smartphone market in the first quarter of 2008.

Table 1
Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End-Users in 1Q08 (Thousands of Units)

Company	1Q08  Sales	1Q08 Market Share (%)	1Q07  Sales	1Q07Market Share (%)	Growth  1Q07-1Q08
Nokia	14,588,600	45.2	11,645,734	46.7	25.3
Research In Motion	4,311,814	13.4	2,080,000	8.3	107.3
Apple	1,725,300	5.3	0	0.0	NA
Sharp	1,323,800	4.1	1,741,109	7.0	-24.0
Fujitsu	1,317,500	4.1	1,247,200	5.0	5.6
Others	8,982,890	27.9	8,227,388	33.0	9.2
Total	32,249,904	100.0	24,941,431	100.0	29.3

NA= Not Applicable
Source: Gartner (May 2008)

More information is available in the Gartner report “Market Share: Smartphones, Worldwide, 1Q08”. The report is available on Gartner’s Web site at http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?id=686608.

 

Contact:


Christy Pettey
Gartner
+1 408 468 8312
christy.pettey@gartner.com


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