Worldwide Smartphone Market Soars in Q3

[Jerry Raia]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.canalys.com/pr/2005/r2005102.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.canalys.com/pr/2005/r2005102.htm</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The continuing shift from standalone handhelds to converged smart mobile devices was confirmed again today by the latest estimates released by analyst firm Canalys. The positions of the top four device vendors worldwide remained unchanged from Q2, with HP displacing Japanese smart phone vendor Fujitsu to take fifth place. Nokia maintained its huge lead, with year-on-year growth of 142% being almost twice the market average. Particularly successful were its 3G Symbian Series 60 based smart phones, including the Nokia 6680, 6630, N90 and N70, but older devices, such as the 6600, continued to contribute to shipments, particularly in developing regions."</i><br /><br />Leading the pack for the Smartphones we like here? MOTOROLA! No wonder we haven't taken over the world. When you look at the chart in this article while the percentage increase for Moto is big, the number of units sold is pathetic.

[Mike Temporale]

When you look at the chart in this article while the percentage increase for Moto is big, the number of units sold is pathetic.

What the... ? oh, I see. The 61K number is for last year - which is pretty bad. This quarters shipments are a more reasonable 693,650. A full 300,000 behind RIM. Hopefully the Q will help Moto reduce the gap and maybe even knock RIM out of 3rd place! :D

[Stinger]

Leading the pack for the Smartphones we like here? MOTOROLA! No wonder we haven't taken over the world. When you look at the chart in this article while the percentage increase for Moto is big, the number of units sold is pathetic.

And apparently the big jump is due to their Linux handsets in China too. :?

[Mike Temporale]

And apparently the big jump is due to their Linux handsets in China too. :?

I would have guessed it was their RAZR handset. :?

[raulr]

What are they considering "Smart?" The series 60 phones are pretty much standard phones from what I know of them. Series 90 is what I would consider a smart phone. I don't consider RIM devices very smart either, just good at performing a very specific task(real-time messaging).

For Motorola, the big increase in definately from their Linux handsets. Their Windows Smartphones have seen very little success.

Maybe my definition of smart is too strict. I consider a smartphone device to be primarily a phone with strong secondary PDA capabilities as opposed to a PDA phone which would flip those primary and secondary functions. I don't see series 60 or blackberry for that matter having strong PDA capabilities

[Stinger]

I don't see series 60 or blackberry for that matter having strong PDA capabilities

Handago sells native third party software for both and being able to run native third party software would be my definition of a smartphone.

Series 60 syncs with Outlook/Notes/iSync, has POP/IMAP/push e-mail support, most of the phones ship with MS Office/PDF software and there's a new range with WiFi and VOIP. I'd say that Series 60 is on par with Smartphone in terms of functionality.

Blackberry is a little more complex. It was never designed as an open platform but people have still managed to write software for it. It has PDA capabilities and obviously does e-mail rather well.

[subzerohf]

Handago sells native third party software for both and being able to run native third party software would be my definition of a smartphone.


I totally agree with you. You get email, contacts, and appointment synchronized over the air, as well as applications from third parties. If that does not qualify as a smartphone, then what does?