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Smartphone Adoption Beating Expectations

IDC upgrades 2010 growth forecast for converged mobile devices.

Its worldwide PC forecast may be down, but IDC upgraded its forecast for converged mobile devices, aka smartphones. The company also forecast increased market shares for the Android and Windows Mobile OSes at the expense of both the Symbian mobile OS and the Apple iOS.

For 2010, IDC is now predicting total shipments of 269.6 million smartphones. Compared with the 173.5 million units shipped in 2009, IDC expects to see a 55.4 percent increase in units shipped for this year. IDC's March forecast had been less optimistic, predicting just a 30.7 percent increase in smartphone unit shipments for this year.

Despite perceptions, Apple isn't the leading mobile OS vendor. As of 2010, according to IDC, the Apple iOS holds the fourth-largest share of the mobile OS market, at 14.7 percent. That's behind Symbian's 40.1 percent, the BlackBerry OS at 17.9 percent and Android's 16.3 percent. Windows Mobile holds a 6.8 percent market share.

About the Author

Dave Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's educational technology online publications and electronic newsletters.