Smart mobile devices slip back in Europe

Computer Weekly writes that "shipments of smart mobile devices fell by 10% in western Europe in the first quarter of this year." According to Canalys, there was a "year-on-year decline in the western European market, although the figures showed that growth more than doubled in central and eastern Europe."

Canalys also found that "despite delays in the release of its enterprise-focused E-series smartphones, Nokia increased its overall European market share to 76% from 67%. Both Nokia and second-placed RIM increased their respective device shipments above the market average of 25%.Qtek, the brand used by HTC on its own devices in Europe, saw the highest growth of the top five suppliers, with a 211% jump in shipments. This took Qtek above HP and Palm for the first time."

Chris Jones at Canalys said, "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 areas that smart mobile device vendors will now be exploring.”