Nokia Remains Tops in Smartphone Market Share

In terms of mindshare among consumers, there's little doubt that Apple's iPhone is instantly recognizable. But for all its impact on popular culture, Apple's greatest is but third in the global smartphone market. Nokia, despite the doom and gloom over Symbian, is still the top dog here. In fact, Apple did not even post the biggest growth among them with a 7% increase. That honor goes to RIM, whose Blackberry phones grew by an astonishing 37.5%.

Ars Technica - There are a few consumer markets that are surprisingly robust, despite rising unemployment and a fragile economy. One of of these markets is apparently shoes, and the other is smartphones. For a gadget that not only costs a chunk of change up front, but also ties you into a costly service contract with a mobile provider that you may even despise at the time of purchase, it's hard to see how the smartphone could've made anybody's list of "Most Likely to Beat the Recession." But if IDC's latest shipment numbers are to be believed, the smartphone posted robust 4.2 percent year-over-year shipment growth in the third quarter of 2009.

To find out more about the state of the smartphone market, click here.