iPhone Now Has 16.6 Percent of World Smartphone Market

10:46 am, December 2nd, 2008, Ed Sutherland

(Credit: Needham)

Apple now has 16.6 percent of the world smartphone marketshare, one analyst said Tuesday. The iPhone became the “only reason” why the global smartphone market didn’t enter a deeper slump, Needham analyst Charlie Wolf said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, handset giant Nokia fell from 63.3 percent of the smartphone marketshare to 43.6 percent for the September quarter.

The global numbers reflect the U.S. market standings which puts the iPhone’s 30 percent in second place to RIM’s 40 percent.

Wolf suggests preference for the iPhone and RIM is fueled by the two smartphone platform’s reliance on their own operating systems.

“The iPhone added more than just a 3G radio and a GPS receiver when it went from its first to second generation,” Avi Greenart, Current Analysis’ handset analyst, told Cult of Mac. Apple also greatly expanded the number of countries selling the iPhone, plus offered corporate e-mail support and the App Store, Greengart said.

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