top five mobile handset vendor in the third quarter, surpassing Rim’s line of Blackberries and knocking Sony Ericsson off the list.

Nokia easily retained the top spot with nearly one-third of the world’s market share but its growth is slowing, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Nokia and Samsung together still own half the market. Among the leaders only LG shipped fewer phones in the quarter, during which IDC said the market grew 14.6% — the fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.

Apple only has four percent of the world’s market share, but it only makes one phone, unlike all of its competitors. And on the strength of the iPhone 4 rollout in 17 countries (and despite “antennagate,” IDC notes) its year-over-year unit growth nearly doubled — pushing it past Rim and knocking Sony Ericsson out of the top five for the first time since IDC started its tracker in 2004.

In what should be a surprise to nobody, IDC says the smartphones are the growth area of the handset business — they expect it to increase by 55% per cent this year.

“The entrance of Apple to the top 5 vendor ranking underscores the increased importance of smartphones to the overall market. Moreover, the mobile phone makers that are delivering popular smartphone models are among the fastest growing firms,” Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, said in the IDC press release. “Vendors that aren’t developing a strong portfolio of smartphones will be challenged to maintain and grow market share in the future.”

Authors: John C Abell

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