Blackberry maker RIM was the biggest winner in a slowing smartphone market in the second quarter, roughly doubling its market share from a year ago to 17.4 percent, research firm Gartner said on Monday.
The market was still dominated by Finland’s Nokia, which sold 15.3 million phones with capabilities like e-mail and navigation, giving it a 47.5 percent share. But this was down from 50.8 percent a year ago as competition intensified in the consumer smartphone market.
“RIM continued to execute well at the consumer level, increasing its global market reach,” Gartner analyst Roberta Cozza said in a statement.
Research In Motion (RIM) sold 5.6 million smartphones in April through June, up from 2.5 million a year ago, as it found new clients beyond its main business market.
“In the second half of the year, the company is expected to launch smartphones based on new (designs) … which are necessary to keep pace with the competition at the consumer level,” she said.
Gartner said Nokia needs to introduce more design variations among its N-series multimedia phones to stay ahead. The company has only tweaked its N-series lineup so far this year and many analysts expect it to lose more market share in smartphones in coming quarters.
Credit Suisse said it expects Nokia’s smartphone market share to fall to 41.6 percent in 2009, hurting profit margins.