Global smartphone sales up 28%

More research from Canalys. These figures say smartphone shipments have risen 27.9% worldwide (from Q3 2007 to Q3 2008), hitting 39.9 million. This means smartphones now represent around 13% of the total mobile phone market, up 2% from the previous quarter. Nokia has retained its market lead, but its share has been eaten into by Apple and BlackBerry devices. [Press release]

GPS-equipped smartphones outsell other navigation devices

Researchers at Canalys say GPS smartphones have overtaken the number of stand-alone Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) shipped in the Europe, Middle East and Asia. They've calculated that EMEA shipments of PNDs in Q3 2008 fell to 4.3 million, down half a million from the previous quarter, while shipments of smartphones with integrated GPS more than doubled to 10.4 million. [Press release]

13% of mobiles are smartphones

Analysts at Canalys say that 13% of all mobile phone shipments in Q2 2008 were smartphones; a total of 12.6 million devices. Nokia led the smartphone market, followed by RIM. Canalys also estimated that 58% of smartphones shipped in the EMEA region had integrated WiFi, 13% had touch-screens and 38% had GPS. [Press release]

Smart phone shipments up 53% last year

New market data from analyst firm Canalys shows that 118 million 'smart phones' were shipped worldwide in 2007, up 53% on 2006. 67% of all devices used the Symbian operating system, followed by Microsoft with 13% and RIM (BlackBerry) on 10%. Nokia and RIM retained their number one (52.9%) and number two (11.4%) manufacturer positions from 2006, with Apple moving in to third place - despite its limited geographic coverage - with a 6.5% market share, putting it fractionally ahead of Motorola. [Press release]