iPhone sales soar 245% in 2008, Nokia still dominates smartphone market

Apple’s iPhone was the fastest-growing smartphone of 2008, despite its dismal performance at the end of the year, according to Gartner research.

“Apple’s initial sell-through dropped significantly as sales fell during the fourth quarter,” Gartner said. “Nevertheless, Apple maintained its third position in the global rankings.”

However on the global perspective, Nokia still dominated the smartphone market with a 43.7% share compared to Apple's 8.2%, but overall it was not a good year for the world’s No. 1 manufacturer of mobile phones.

Nokia's smartphone sales were flat compared with 2007 and actually fell 16.8% year to year in the third quarter.

Research in Motion, HTC and Samsung all grew their smartphone market share last year, but none as fast as Apple, whose sales increased 245%.

Below is the Gartner table showing the total market share of each smartphone maker worlwide: