Nokia Leads Smarphone Market with 56% Share; Symbian Has 73% of OS Share
Nokia
leads the smartphone market a 56.4% share of the 70.9 million units
shipped in 2006, according
to ABI Research. Nokia sold 40 million smartphones in 2006, compared to
28.5 million in 2005. Motorola occupied the second position with 8.5%
market share, driven mostly by MING.
In addition to the usual features, consumers are now increasingly seeking smartphones that have touch screens, MP3 players, Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth, fast processors, and lots of memory as well as an expansion card slot, according to ABI.
In 2006, Symbian was estimated to have a 73% share of the smartphone OS
market. ABI forecasts that Symbian's share will fall to 46% by 2012, due
to strong competition coming most notably from Linux and Windows Mobile.
