Smart phone shipments remain strong

Shipments of smart mobile devices in western Europe declined 10 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

But this is in contrast to a 112 per cent increase in the central and eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region, according to researchers Canalys.

As a result, across the whole of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, shipments are up 25 per cent on the same quarter last year.

Smart mobile devices include handhelds, wireless handhelds and smart phones.

Canalys said that despite delays in the release of its enterprise-focused E-series smart phones Nokia not only retained its "comfortable" lead in EMEA in the first quarter of this year but increased its market share to 76 per cent, from the 67 per cent in the same quarter last year.

Both Nokia and second-placed RIM, maker of the BlackBerry, increased their device shipments above the market average of 25 per cent.

The analysts also found that handheld shipments have fallen 15 per cent as GPS navigation buyers continue to favour dedicated devices.

Chris Jones, Canalys principal analyst and director, said in a statement: "More changes and new opportunities for device vendors and service providers across various categories will emerge over the coming quarters. Increased GPS integration in mobile phones and tighter communication between navigation systems and enterprise databases, such as contacts, calendaring and CRM, are just a couple of examples of areas that smart mobile device vendors will be exploring."

The 15 per cent decline in the handheld segment in EMEA is also partly due to the increasing shift toward converged devices, with real-time email becoming the first critical application, after voice, for enterprise customers.