RIM the Big Winner in Smartphone Market: Gartner
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HELSINKI (Reuters)
- Blackberry maker RIM was the biggest winner in a slowing smartphone
market in the second quarter, roughly doubling its market share from a
year ago to 17.4 percent, research firm Gartner said on Monday.
The market was still dominated by Finland's Nokia Oyj , which sold
15.3 million phones with capabilities like e-mail and navigation,
giving it a 47.5 percent share. But this was down from 50.8 percent a
year ago as competition intensified in the consumer smartphone market.
"RIM continued to execute well at the consumer level, increasing its
global market reach," Gartner analyst Roberta Cozza said in a statement.
Research In Motion Ltd (RIM) sold 5.6 million smartphones in April
through June, up from 2.5 million a year ago, as it found new clients
beyond its main business market.
"In the second half of the year, the company is expected to launch
smartphones based on new (designs) ... which are necessary to keep pace
with the competition at the consumer level," she said.
Gartner said Nokia needs to introduce more design variations among
its N-series multimedia phones to stay ahead. The company has only
tweaked its N-series lineup so far this year and many analysts expect
it to lose more market share in smartphones in coming quarters.
Credit Suisse said it expects Nokia's smartphone market share to fall to 41.6 percent in 2009, hurting profit margins.
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