Nokia expelled from top five smartphones run

Nokia has been Driven out from the top five smartphones by Research In Motion (RIM) according to the latest quarterly monitoring by International Data Corporation (IDC). The Finnish company had inhabit in the top five of IDC table since its onset in 2004. Nokia has been underperforming in a growing market, "the world of smartphone market vendors shipped 179.7 million units in 3Q12 compared to 123.7 million units sold out in 3Q11," revealed the last IDC figures. It is a market of more than 45 percent higher sales than an year earlier.

Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst, IDC stated that "Nokia's share losses have given impetus to rivals." He added that there are still plenty of opportunities in the market for Nokia (and others) to do well "The company's transition away from Symbian-powered smartphones to those supplied with Windows Phone has left ample opportunity for competitors to steal share away from Nokia during the past 18 months. However, the smartphone market is still relatively embryo, which means there is room for all manufacturers and operating systems to flourish, including Nokia."

Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments and Market Share, 2012 Q3 - 2011 Q3

	3Q'12 Unit Shipments	3Q'12 Market Share	3Q'11 Unit Shipments	3Q'11 Market Share	Year-over- year Change
Samsung	56.3	31.3%	28.1	22.7%	100.4%
Apple	26.9	15.0%	17.1	13.8%	57.3%
RIM	7.7	4.3%	11.8	9.6%	-34.7%
ZTE	7.5	4.2%	4.1	3.3%	82.9%
HTC	7.3	4.0%	12.7	10.3%	-42.5%
Others	74.0	41.2%	49.9	40.3%	48.3%
Total	179.7	100.0%	123.7	100.0%	45.3%
Source: IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, October 25, 2012 (Units in Millions)

Looking through the numbers, you can say the year was particularly good for Samsung, it managed to ship more than double the amount of smartphones last year. ZTE has also benefited from a fantastic 83 percent uplift in sales, its smartphones are doing well in emerging markets, says IDC.

On the other hand, we have worse performance than previous year's from HTC and RIM. RIM is currently relying on older models of smartphones and hoping its BB10 OS and new smartphones will revitalize its economy. HTC held the fifth player in place thanks to the HTC One X and EVO 4G success. Like Nokia, HTC is looking forward to Windows Phone 8 gaining ground and becoming popular.