Twenty-Ten may be written down in the annals of history as the year of the smartphone. According to IDC’s analysis, smartphone shipments increased a whopping 56.7% year-over-year with vendors shipping 54.7 million converged devices in Q1 2010 alone. This impressive growth rate doubles that of the overall handset market which grew a comparatively low 21.7% YoY. Rising stars within the handset manufacturers include Apple, which saw its handset shipments increase a mind boggling 131% YoY, Motorola which posted an impressive 91% increase, and HTC which came in third with a 71% increase. The driving force behind these three smartphone manufacturers is the iPhone OS for Apple and Android for both Motorola and HTC. Though Nokia is still king of the hill with 39% of the market share and handset shipments of 21.5 million, the company out of Espoo should keep an eye on its back as Apple and the little green robot are coming on fast and furious.

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