According to new data from research firm IDC, Apple held its second place spot in the worldwide smartphone market in the fourth quarter of 2010 amid strong market growth overall. Nokia maintained its overall lead in the smartphone market, with 28.3 million units shipped in the fourth quarter and a 28 percent share, down from its 38.6 percent share of the market in Q4 2009. Apple’s market share actually remained flat year-over-year at 16.1 percent with shipments of 16.2 million units, as its 86.2 percent unit shipment growth nearly matched the 87.2 percent growth seen in the overall market. RIM placed third in overall market share with shipments of 14.6 million units and a 14.5 percent share, down from 19.9 percent in the year-ago quarter, while Samsung and HTC took fourth and fifth places with impressive year-over-year growth of 438.9 percent and 258.3 percent, respectively. For the year, Apple finished in third place with shipments of 47.5 million units and a 15.7 percent share of the market, trailing second-place RIM by 1.3 million units shipped and less than half a percentage point in market share.
