Apple Passes Rim To Become The World?s Fourth-Largest Handset Maker

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By: E&P Staff

John C Abell | Wired

With a single phone, Apple became one the world's top five mobile handset makers 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 the International Data Corporation (IDC) 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.

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