New figures from research firm Canalys found that global smartphone shipments in 3Q09 rose 4 percent year-on-year, slower than the 13 percent annual growth seen last quarter, and held back primarily by a 6 percent fall in EMEA. Shipments in North America were up 5 percent, while the APAC region saw a strong 26 percent rise after several flat quarters. According to the figures, Nokia retained its worldwide lead in smartphones, with a share of 40 percent – slightly up on its year-ago position, but down almost 5 percent sequentially. BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) held onto second place with a largely unchanged (compared to 2Q09) share of 21 percent, while Apple reached a new high of 18 percent share in third place, significantly up from the 14 percent it held in 2Q09 as supply of the iPhone 3GS improved in many countries. HTC retained its fourth-place position with a 5 percent share.
 
“While growth has undoubtedly slowed, it is still outperforming the overall mobile phone market by some margin, as well as driving data revenue for operators, and smartphones are ushering in a range of changes in user behaviour when it comes to what people actually do on their phones,” commented Canalys senior analyst Pete Cunningham. In terms of smartphone operating system market shares, Symbian’s overall lead shrank as its share fell to 46 percent, ahead of RIM (20.6 percent) and Apple (17.8 percent). Microsoft remained in fourth with its share dipping slightly below last quarter’s previous low of 9 percent. The proportion of smartphones running Google’s Android platform climbed to almost 4 percent, from just under 3 percent in 2Q09.