Sales of mobile devices in the second quarter of 2010 grew 13.8% year-over-year according to IT research firm Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT). Total sales reached 325.6 million units worldwide, with pricier, higher-margin smartphones accounting for 19% of total sales, some 61.6 million units. That figure is 50.5% higher than smartphone sales in the same period a year ago.
The usual suspects top the list. Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) sold 111.5 million units, accounting for 34.2% of total sales. Year-over-year that is a share decline of -2.6%. Samsung sold 65.3 million units to finish a solid second, and LG sod 29.4 million units to wind up in third place. Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) sold 11.2 million units, raising its share by 0.7% year-over-year. Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) sold slightly more than 11 million units, but saw its share cut in half compared with a year ago, from 5.6% to 2.8%. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) sold 8.7 million units, representing 2.7% share, up from 1.9% a year ago.
HTC Corp. joined the top ten for the first time, posting sales of 5.9 million units, largely on the strength of its devices using the Android operating system from Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). HTC sales jumped 139% year-over-year.
Gartner also looked at sales of smartphones by operating system. Nokia’s Symbian OS leads with 25.4 million units sold, and a 41% market share. RIM’s Blackberry OS sold 11.2 million units for an 18% share. Phones using Google’s Android OS sold 10.6 million units putting Android in third place ahead of Apple’s iOS.
Android’s growth is geometric. A year ago the OS claimed 1.8% of sales in the second quarter, with just 756,000 units. In the 2010 second quarter, Android phones claimed a 17.2% share of sales, while Apple’s share of sales grew from 13% a year ago to 14.2%.
Nokia has been getting pounded for failing to update the Symbian OS to make its smartphones more competitive with Android-based phones and iPhones. The company’s 10% drop in sales shares year-over-year underscores the cost of that failure. Nokia expects to have Symbian3 out in the third quarter on its new N8 phone, and to release the N8 with the new MeeGo OS by the end of the year.
Symbian3 is a short-term upgrade that the company says will be replaced next year with a fully revamped Symbian4. That probably depends on the success of MeeGo — if MeeGo wows the market, Symbian4 will very likely fade away.
RIM’s latest phone, the Torch and its latest Blackberry OS may stop users from switching to an Android-based phone or an iPhone, but Gartner does not expect long lines of new customers.
It appears that it will take a quantum leap in functionality to stop the Android freight train. Carriers like it, device manufacturers like, and users like it. In another year, Android-based phones could lead in sales even if it grows at a quarter of its rate over the last year.
Gartner’s take: “[W]e believe market share in the OS space will consolidate around a few key OS providers that have the most support from [carriers] and developers, and strong brand awareness with consumers and enterprise customers.” In other words, Android rules.
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