Nokia’s share of the global smartphone market slumped by 10.1 percent in the final quarter of 2008 as rivals such as Samsung, Research In Motion (RIM), HTC and Apple made gains, according to new figures from Gartner. Nokia’s smartphone sales slipped to 15.6 million in 4Q08 compared to 18.7 million a year ago, which saw its smartphone market share decline from 50.9 percent to 40.8 percent over the same period. Samsung recorded the most impressive growth (138 percent) and entered the top five smartphone vendors ranking for the first time in 4Q08, replacing Sharp, Gartner said. Total sales of smartphones to end users reached 38.1 million units in the quarter, an increase of 3.7 percent over 4Q07, while sales for full-year 2008 reached 139.3 million devices, up 13.9 percent from 2007. As a proportion of all mobile device sales, smartphones accounted for 12 percent, a slight rise from 11 percent in the year-earlier quarter.

“In general in 2008, the focus from vendors and operators on increasing their smartphone portfolios remained very strong,” said Roberta Cozza, research director at Gartner. “Samsung, RIM, HTC and Apple saw their volumes and share increase during 2008 thanks to their ability to offer compelling device experiences and touch interfaces.” In a statement, the firm said that Nokia remains more exposed to pressure from competition at the higher end of the consumer smartphone market as the Nseries loses its appeal. It added that sales in the quarter had been driven by new products such as RIM’s BlackBerry Storm, HTC’s T-Mobile G1, and new touchscreen products from Samsung.