Apple to top Nokia in smartphone market?

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Apple will surpass Nokia to become the market leader for smartphones in the next four years, according to a report.

Research company Generator Research predicted that the iPhone’s market share will rise to about 40 per cent, while Nokia’s will drop from its current 40 per cent to just 20 per cent by 2013.

The report said: “Newcomers like Apple will make great strides and usurp long-standing industry heavyweights, such as Nokia.”

The report also predicted that 2011 will be the point the market share crosses, with Nokia and Apple being pretty even, however Generator Research thinks Apple will have sold 77 million iPhones by this point.

In an interview with Mobile Today, Nokia UK’s general manager, Mark Loughran, threw some punches in Apple’s direction claiming the new Nokia N97 smartphone would outperform its rival.

He told the website: “The new iPhone seems to have the same design and colour, upgrading from a sub-standard two-megapixel camera to a still low 3.2-megapixel camera, and is probably a disappointment for many people given the high tariff and lifetime ownership costs.”

The iPhone’s recent launch however showed the pull the device still has, selling over one million handsets in just three days. It is by no means perfect with recent reports that the design easily overheats and is simple to hack but it continues to rise in popularity.

Apple declined to comment for this story, while Nokia had not returned request for comment at the time of publication.

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