IDC just released their unit shipment projections for Q1 2010, and claim that Research In Motion has bumped out Motorola from the number four spot – an impressive feat since they deal exclusively in BlackBerry smartphones and no feature phones whatsoever. As expected, Nokia is still the king of the hill by a significant margin, shipping 107.8 million units last quarter, followed by Samsung (64.3 m) and LG (27.1 m). RIM (10.6 m) tied up with Sony Ericsson (10.5 m), though given the trend from 2009 (SE shipped 26.7% fewer units than last year), BlackBerry’s lead will likely widen. The whole mobile market has grown a notable 21.7% in just the first quarter, which is good news for everyone.
BlackBerry’s rate of growth was the highest on the list, though Samsung’s was certainly nothing to sneeze at. Upcoming BlackBerry devices include some significant departures in form factor, including a clamshell and a slider with a QWERTY keyboard; whether or not those adventurous designs pay off is anybody’s guess, but RIM’s core family of standard candybars, like the recently-announced BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9100 and Bold 9650, will likely carry them through the rest of the year just fine, whatever they do.
[via IDC]