HELSINKI: Nokia Oyj, the world's largest maker of mobile phones, lost market share as smartphones continued to outpace growth in the overall handset market, Gartner Inc said in a report.
Nokia's share of global sales to end users fell to 34.2 per cent from 36.8 per cent in the year-earlier period, according to the Stamford, Connecticut-based market researcher. Smartphone sales gained 50.5 per cent, more than three times the growth for the market as a whole.
Google Inc's Android overtook Apple Inc's iPhone to become the third-biggest smartphone platform after Nokia's Symbian and Research In Motion Ltd's Blackberry, which had 17.2 per cent of the market. Symbian, also used on some phones from other vendors, lost almost 10 percentage points of market share to 41.2 per cent as Nokia struggled to revamp it and bring out new products.
"Nokia's senior executives need to do more to attract developers and other ecosystem members by revising its platform strategy and improving its communications," Gartner said.
Apple's iOS fell behind Android to fourth place among smartphone platforms with a 14.2 per cent market share as the iPhone 4 ramped up production.
The overall mobile phone market increased 13.8 per cent to 325.6 million units as prices fell on tougher competition, Gartner said.
Samsung Electronics Co, maintained its position as the second biggest mobile-phone vendor overall with a 20.1 per cent market share, up from 19.3 per cent last year. Apple gained to 2.7 per cent of the market, making it the world's seventh-largest phonemaker. - Bloomberg
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