Overall sales of mobile handsets in the first quarter were down substantially this year as consumers continue to tighten their belts. Oddly enough, sales of smartphone devices surged during the same period as buyers raise their expectations of their phones.

Worldwide sales of mobile phones fell 8.6 percent in the first quarter of 2009 as compared to the same period last year. This represents a drop in overall mobile handset sales of over 25 million units to 269.1 million.

On the other hand, consumers are more willing to dish out the extra cash for a smartphone if they are going to buy a new device. Sales of smartphones climbed 12.7 percent since the first quarter of 2008.

Smartphone sales made up 13.5 percent of all handsets sold in the first quarter as compared to 11 percent a year ago. This means that more consumers are buying devices with capabilities such as email and Internet access.

It’s hard to account for why consumers are buying more smartphones while the overall market saw such a substantial drop. It could be that consumers are waiting longer to upgrade their devices to afford more expensive smartphone purchases.

The increase in smartphone popularity could also represent a turning point in the mobile phone market. Smartphones could be ready to move from being a niche device to the mainstream choice for mobile phone users.

While market share and units of smartphone sales were up, frontrunner Nokia saw its market share dwindle from 45.1 percent a year ago to just over 41 percent. RIM was able to grow its market share 6.6 percent and Apple 5.5 percent to bolster their positions at number two and three in the space respectively.

Nokia still has a commanding lead in the global smartphone market, but RIM’s Blackberry and Apple’s iPhone devices are chipping away at that lead. What’s amazing is that through all the buzz of the iPhone over the last year since the 3G launched, RIM was still able to bolster its position as number two smartphone maker.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 9:03 am under Cell phones, Retail.

Read more entries by Dave Jeyes.
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