Nokia (NYSE: NOK) had such a poor selection of smartphones this year that it negatively impacted sales of the overall category, according to Gartner.
The research firm said today that smartphones sales did not grow as aggressively in 2009 as they originally thought because of Nokia, which can clearly affect broader market trends as the largest handset maker in the world. In 2009, Gartner said smartphones will make up roughly 14 percent of overall global sales, representing a 24 percent increase from 2008. Gartner had been expecting a 29 percent increase, reports PCWorld.com.
Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner, said up until Q2 the industry was on track to accomplish that growth, but Q3 was disappointing, mainly due to Nokia’s lack of attractive smartphones. Furthermore, she said that consumers, who like Nokia’s products aren’t necessarily going to buy smartphones from competitors. While that slowed the industry’s growth, the loyalty may buy Nokia time as it continues to tweak it’s smartphone strategy.
Going forward, Gartner still sees a steep trajectory for smartphones with more than every third phone sold in 2013 being a smartphone. The one barrier to achieving that growth is the price of service plans. If carriers continue to push costly unlimited plans, the cost may be out of reach for many consumers, Milanesi said.

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