Samsung – the world’s second-largest handset vendor – wants to grab at least 30 percent market share in Europe this year, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The South Korean vendor sold 54 million handsets in Europe in 2009, a 25 percent share of the market. “We’d like to break 30 percent market share this year,” Sang Heung Shin, chief executive of the company’s European operation, told the news agency. “We will sell more handsets in Europe in 2010. We expect two-digit growth, both in sales volume and revenue.”

Shin said such growth will get an extra boost from the company’s aggressive move into the high-margin smartphone space. At last month’s GSMA Mobile World Congress it unveiled ‘Wave,’ its first smartphone (pictured) based on its own mobile operating system, bada. More bada devices will be released later this year. The company as a whole plans to treble smartphone shipments in 2010 by delivering its biggest portfolio. In terms of total mobile handsets, Samsung aims to increase shipments from 227 million in 2009 to 270 million in 2010.