Apple Gains Share in Smartphone Market

Apple Inc. gained share from Research In Motion Ltd.�s BlackBerry in the global smartphone market last quarter as customers snapped up faster and cheaper versions of the iPhone.

Apple claimed 16.1% of shipments in the quarter, up from 10.9% a year ago, researcher IDC said in a statement today. RIM, the second-largest global smartphone maker, slipped to 19.4% from 20.9%.

Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs doubled iPhone revenue in the past year by expanding into China and rolling out a faster version of the touch-screen device. Smartphone shipments grew at double the pace of the overall handset market as more customers looked for phones with Web access and more advanced features, IDC said.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, dropped $10.39 to $235.86 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading at 4 p.m. New York time. The stock has gained 12% this year. RIM fell $1.94 to $64.92 and has lost 3.9% this year.

Smartphone sales rose 57% to 54.7 million units last quarter, and accounted for almost one in five phones sold, IDC said. That compares with a 22 percent increase in the overall market.

Worldwide smartphone shipments will rise 30% this year to 226.8 million, representing 18% of all mobile phones, said Ramon Llamas, an analyst at IDC. By 2014, that number will almost double to 438.4 million phones, he said.

Nokia Oyj, the world�s largest smartphone maker, kept its market share unchanged at 39.3% last quarter. HTC Corp., maker of some of Google Inc.�s Android devices, boosted its share to 4.8 percent from 4.3%. Motorola Inc., another Android manufacturer, rose to 4.2% from 3.4% , IDC said.