iPhone beats BlackBerry in market share

Apple overtook BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion (RIM) in global smartphone shipments and market share in the third quarter of 2010, according to a new report from research firm Strategy Analytics.

The report maintains that while Nokia remains the undisputed leader of the pack with a 34.4 per cent market share (down from 39.7 per cent in Q2), RIM’s global market share fell from 19.6 per cent to 16.1 per cent. Meanwhile, Apple’s global market share increased 1.3 percentage points from 17 to 18.3 per cent.

For the third quarter of the year, Nokia led with 26.5 million smartphone shipments while Apple followed with 14.1 million and RIM took third place with 12.4 million.

“Global smartphone shipments grew an impressive 78 per cent annually to reach a record 77 million units in Q3 2010,” says Tom Kang, Director at Strategy Analytics.

“Apple was the star performer during the quarter, as it captured a record 18 per cent market share, overtook RIM, and closed the gap on Nokia.”