Apple, RIM pip Sony, Motorola as top mobile manufacturers in 2010

New Delhi: The year 2010 saw major reshuffle in the positions held by the mobile device manufacturers in the top 10 bracket. As per latest Gartner findings, Nokia, Samsung and LG were the top three manufacturers of 2010. Research In Motion (RIM) and Apple displaced Sony Ericsson and Motorola for the fourth and fifth positions.Even as Nokia and LG are comfortably placed in first and third place, the companies witnessed their market share erode in the year as compared to previous years. The downward spiral for these companies saw them under increasing pressure to refine their smartphone strategies. Apple and RIM saw strong smartphone sales in the last quarter of 2010 which buoyed them to the top spots. Others who rounded off the top 10 include ZTE, HTC and Huawei. A total of 1.6 billion mobile phone units were shipped in 2010 to end users. This was a 31.8 percent increase from 2009. The smartphones' category also saw an enormous 72.1 percent increase in 2010 as compared to the previous year. Smartphones accounted for 19 percent of total mobile communications device sales in 2010. In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Symbian ruled the roost overall but saw a steep decline in the fourth quarter of 2010 to 32.6 percent or 32.6 million units. This paved way for Android to grow, which overtook Nokia's Symbian unit sales during the fourth quarter of 2010. The year ended with Symbian, Android and RIM OS enjoying the top three spots in the OS market followed by Apple's iOS and Microsoft Windows. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100421111353.htm&  lt;/span>