READING, United Kingdom-New research shows Research In Motion, Symbian and Microsoft Corp. scoring gains in the Europe, Middle East and Africa market for advanced wireless devices, while Nokia Corp. and PalmOne Inc. failed to show increases.
According to research and consulting firm Canalys, the overall mobile device market in the EMEA region was up 62 percent in the first quarter compared with the same quarter a year ago. The firm found Hewlett-Packard Co. beat out PalmOne in the data-centric category of devices by maintaining its No. 1 position. Canalys said RIM and its BlackBerry wireless e-mail product entered the No. 3 position in the data-centric category for the first time.
“RIM has made great progress in EMEA over the past year and a half,” said Chris Jones, the firm’s director and senior analyst. “Lower unit prices, the move to color displays and voice integration all helped put it in a position where it was ready to take advantage of the return of corporate spending when it came. The increasing awareness among business buyers of the need for security in mobile data solutions plays to its strengths as well.”
In the voice-centric category of devices, Nokia continued to lead, albeit with a falling market share. On the operating system side, Symbian maintained its No. 1 position, but Microsoft scored its biggest share to date with 7.8 percent.
