Apple Joins Top 10 Mobile Makers

Apple, RIM and ZTE took places among the world's top 10 largest mobile phone makers in 2007, new research from Gartner claims.

Despite only being available in four markets: U.S., U.K., Germany and France, the iPhone transformed Apple into the 10th largest handset maker in the fourth quarter of 2007, the analysts informed.

RIM took sixth place while low-cost handset manufacturer ZTE, which specializes in delivering devices to emerging markets, took seventh place.

Apple holds 0.6 percent of the market while sixth-place RIM has 1.2 percent. Motorola saw its share fall to 11.9 percent from 21.5 percent. Nokia (40.4 percent) and Samsung (13.4 percent) continue to dominate global handset sales.

Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi observed: "The global mobile devices market will remain relatively immune to a recession in the US and Western European economies as the majority of growth in 2008 will come from emerging markets. The mature Western Europe and North America markets are driven by operator contract terms and replacement cycles and will account for just 30 percent of the global mobile devices market in 2008."