It seems one of the only things growing in this hostile global economy is the number of smartphones being sold around the world. The growth of sales in this particular segment highlights the smartphone’s recent push to popularity. The smartphone market now sits at a new high, showing 3.7% growth in sales  (38.1 million handsets) for Q4 2008. Unfortunately for Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) and Samsung and RIM’s assaults on the smartphone space has left the Finnish cellphone giant with less overall and smartphone market share.

While Nokia still leads the world as the largest mobile phone maker, Espoo saw its overall market share drop from 50.9% to a more humble 40.8%. More significantly, Nokia’s smartphone sales declined 17% to 15.6 million units in the last quarter of 2008. “Nokia’s entry-level smartphone range will continue to offer good value for the money, but Nokia remains more exposed to pressure from competition in the higher end of the consumer smartphone market as the Nseries loses its appeal,” said research firm Gartner Research

Apple, on the other hand, saw sales of its iPhone more than doubling to 4.1 million units, up from 1.9 million. The boost in smartphone sales has given Apple a solid 10.7% of the global smartphone market, a not-so-small increase from 5.2%.

Samsung’s Q4 2008 smartphone sales highlighted the manufacturer’s break-out success in the smartphone segment. Samsung’s sales grew 138%, hitting 1.6 million. The added sales helped increase Samsung’s market share to 4.2% in the fourth quarter, up from 1.8%.

RIM likewise impressed with an 85% growth in sales of its popular BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) smartphones. RIM moved 7.4 million BlackBerry handsets, netting it 19.5% of the smartphone market. RIM had previously held 10.9% of the world’s smartphone market.

HTC’s Q4 2008 saw 1.6 million Windows Mobile smartphones sold, a more modest 20% growth in sales. HTC can now lay claim to a global smartphone market share of 4.3%, up from 3.7%

It seems that the growth of the smartphone market has benefited all the big names in the smartphone space – that is, with the exception of Nokia. The success of Nokia’s competition is likely due to “their ability to offer compelling device experiences and touch interfaces,” according to Gartner.

[Via: CNNMoney]

Following a private beta announced in our forums, one of my favourite voice applications for BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM), Vlingo, is spreading its wings both technologically and linguistically with a new version for S60, supporting British accents, German and Spanish language recognition. What can you do with Vlingo? Well, just about everything, to be honest: transcribe messages, launch applications, do web searches, start calls, make task lists, update Facebook status, and send tweets. The turnaround time on a command isn’t crazy, and it learns the more you use it, but you do have to take the time to train the app – I use it only occasionally, so it’s still a little off, but it was good enough to make Yahoo!’s cut for OneSearch. Only those with a Nokia (NYSE: NOK) N95, N96, N81, E51 or E71 need apply. Brits can sign up here, Germans here, and Spaniards here. Let us know what you think!

At the online “Your Music Player is Ringing” press event, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) unveiled three new music-centric phones — Nokia 5030, Nokia 5330 XpressMusic and Nokia 5730 XpressMusic — all of which are compatible with the company’s “Comes With Music” offering. Let’s briefly go through their specs, shall we?

• First comes the Nokia 5030, which is sort of an entry-level music candybar designed for emerging markets. Specs wise, it boasts an FM radio with internal antenna (no need for headset) and dedicated channel selection keys, powerful loudspeaker, and a battery that can sustain up to 10 hours of talk time. Once it hits the select markets in Q2 2009, interested buyers will be able to get it for less than 40 EUR, before taxes or subsidies, in graphite or red.
• Then there’s the mid-range slider Nokia 5330 XpressMusic. Specs wise, there are dedicated music keys, standard 3.5mm headset jack, and a battery that sustains more than 26 hours of playback time. As for the pre-installed software, this baby will be rocking social networking apps allowing users to access Nokia’s Ovi services, Facebook and Myspace. The 5330 XpressMusic is expected to be available in Q3 2009 for an estimated retail price of 160 EUR.
• Finally, and we kept the best for the end, the Finnish giant also unveiled the Nokia 5730 XpressMusic, which sports the E75-like look and feel, packing both a numeric keypad and slide-out QWERTY keyboard. As a result, this Symbian S60-powered smartphone is ideal for SMS addicts and mobile gaming fans (it’s compatible with N-Gage) and is much more than “yet another music-centric phone,” enabling users to further expand the phone’s functionality with any of a number of available third-party apps. The trick is in the special “Homescreen for XpressMusic,” which provides quick access to popular apps, games, services, content and contacts. Among the things you can keep on your homescreen are favorite contacts, N-Gage, Facebook, photos and much more. The Nokia 5730 XpressMusic is expected to begin shipping in Q3 2009 for an estimated retail price of 280 EUR before subsidies and taxes.

And now the gallery…

Good news for all the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) 5800 XpressMusic users out there. The popular VoIP/multiple IM network client, Fring, is now compatible with the Finnish giant’s first S60 Touch device!

As expected, the S60 5th Edition application is tailor-made for touch, ensuring you can use nothing but your fingers and eventually the stylus to get your way around the app. Functionality remains the same, allowing you to keep in touch with your buddies on multiple IM networks, and even take and make Skype calls — all while on the go.

Enough said, a short video demoing Fring on the 5800 XpressMusic follows after the jump.

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Nokia (NYSE: NOK) NSeries smartphone owners who at the same time are fans of Monopoly will be glad to know that the popular game is now available on N-Gage. The official title is Monopoly Here & Now The World Edition, and it’s the latest and greatest version of the game, featuring most popular cities in the world, based on the users’ votes.

The official game description goes like this:

The world’s number one game has gone global! Millions of people from all over the world voted for their greatest cities so now everyone can play MONOPOLY on a global scale. Travel around the world’s greatest cities, wheeling and dealing in millions of MONOPOLY dollars. As you play, discover interesting facts about the world on the Chance and Community Chest cards. Also check out the international inspiration behind the movers, houses, and hotels!

More information is available from this page on N-Gage’s website. During the limited time, Nokia is offering up to 30% off the sticker price.

Interested? To download the game, navigate to the “Showroom” tab in the N-Gage application, select “Option” and then “Update now”. After the N-Gage client is updated, you should see it listed in the showroom. Enjoy!

[Via: Darla Mack]

Nokia may have won the patent battle with InterDigital in the UK over the summer, but the war rages on in the U.S. InterDigital, owner of some very early 3G patents, and currently licensing the technology to half of the world’s 3G cell phones, won an early case against Nokia (NYSE: NOK), in which Nokia tried to force InterDigital to arbitrate outside of International Trade Commission court. Nokia couldn’t even get the case to stay in the Southern District New York court, so now heads to the ITC, where Nokia imports could be blocked entirely if an amicable solution isn’t found. That’s a tough squeeze for Nokia to be in, but the fight’s not over yet. Samsung has already folded under such palpable legal might, and if Nokia does as well, then then those producing 80% of the world’s handsets will be paying their dues to InterDigital.

[via Forbes]

The Nokia (NYSE: NOK) E71, as rumoured, will finally be finding its way to AT&T (NYSE: T) next month according to a leaked retailer inventory. It’s an enterprise favourite, even among the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) faithful, and will find a home in many a pair of thumbs. Other handsets due to land on Big Blue include an appropriately blue Propel, a mysterious little number called the Jackfrost, and the budget-texting Zenon. Aside from AT&T, Sprint (NYSE: S)’s Treo Pro gets another confirmation for March 15th., and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) will be getting a cheap little Nokia flip called the Intrigue. A decent perspective on what’s happening over the next couple of weeks across all the major carriers, but you never know what surprises might pop up…

[via Engadget]

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) will be announcing something music-related this Wednesday, March 11th. The virtual event is called “Your Music Player is Ringing” and, honestly, we’ve no clue what will the Finnish giant unveil. Maybe that QWERTY keyboard-equipped Nokia 5730 XpressMusic? I’m only speculating at this stage – we’ll have more details within two days.

If you want to follow Nokia’s announcement as well, hop over to event.nokia.com on March 11, 2009 at 10:00 CET. Live Q&A sessions are also planned at 10:00-11:00 CET and 17:00-18:00 CET.

[Via: TheNokiaBlog]

T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) USA has two new color options for the popular mid-ranger, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) 5310 XpressMusic. We’re talking about “White Aqua” and “White Silver” versions, both of which are identical to the original model in terms of specs.

The music-ready device(s) should sell like hot cupcakes now when the Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT)-owned mobile operator is offering them for free on a contract. That’s two year-long contract, but you’ll get a decent music-friendly device to use it both as a phone and an MP3 player. If that’s what you want, hop over to T-Mobile’s online store and find these babies there. Otherwise, keep reading for something more interesting.

[Via: Engadget Mobile, CellPhone Signal]