iPhone sales gain on rival BlackBerry

SAN FRANCISCO — The growing power of Apple Inc. in the mobile-device market was underscored in two ways Friday: in a report from IDC showing the iPhone gaining market share, and in a fresh lawsuit from cellphone giant Nokia Corp.

A study issued by research firm IDC showed Apple with a share of 16.1 percent of the global smartphone market by the end of the first quarter. That's up from 10.9 percent for the like period last year, when the company had half the share as its closest rival, Research In Motion (RIM).

That gap is closing. IDC estimates RIM closed the period with 19.4 percent share — down slightly from 20.9 percent last year.

Apple's iPhone competes with RIM's BlackBerry family of smartphones, as well as other devices from the likes of Motorola, Palm, HTC and Nokia.

Nokia is still the global leader in smartphones, with 39.3 percent market share, according to IDC. But that remains unchanged from the like period last year. The company doesn't rank in the top five smartphone vendors in the key U.S. market.

RIM still enjoys a distinct advantage in the U.S., where it has a 41.7 percent market share, compared with Apple's 17.2 percent, according to IDC data.

Motorola has seen its fortunes improve in the marketplace.

Globally, the company saw smartphone shipments grow nearly 92 percent in the last year, to a market share of 4.2 percent, compared with 3.4 percent last year, IDC said.

The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company has launched a handful of devices using the Android mobile-operating system developed by Google.

Overall, smartphone shipments grew nearly 57 percent in the first quarter. The mobile-phone market — which includes regular cellphones — grew by nearly 22 percent in the same period.

Also Friday, Nokia announced it has sued Apple in a federal court in Wisconsin, alleging the company's latest gadget infringes on its patents.

Apple launched the iPad touch-screen tablet last month. A Wi-Fi-only version went on sale April 3, and a version compatible with 3G wireless networks from AT&T launched later in the month.

Nokia claims the iPad 3G infringes on five of its patents. The Finnish company has filed a similar lawsuit over the iPhone, though the latter device also was included in Friday's action.

The patents in question "relate to technologies for enhanced speech and data transmission, using positioning data in applications and innovations in antenna configurations that improve performance and save space, allowing smaller and more compact devices," according to Nokia.

Apple sued Nokia in December, claiming infringement of its own patents.

This story was originally published May 7, 2010, and corrected May 10, 2010. The headline originally referred to U.S. rival BlackBerry. But the BlackBerry is a product of Ontario, Canada-based Research In Motion.