Gartner Research reports that smartphone sales within North America more than doubled during the first quarter of 2008 in comparison with year-earlier figures. Moreover, Apple became the number-two smartphone vendor in the U.S. by grabbing a 20 percent market share in the quarter.

Despite worrisome economic concerns, the U.S. smartphone market continued to expand in response to heavy advertising and strong marketing promotions as more devices reached mass-market price points, observed Hugues De La Vergne, Gartner’s principal analyst for mobile terminals.

“North American operators are giving these devices strong support, as they supply higher average revenue per unit,” De La Vergne explained. “We expect operators to continue to build these devices the focus of 2008 promotions.”

A Global Expansion

Worldwide smartphone sales totaled 32.2 million units in the first quarter, a 29.3 percent increase from one year earlier, the research firm said. Moreover, Apple became the world’s number-three smartphone vendor, behind Nokia and Research In Motion,

by shipping 1.72 million iPhones — which was good abundant to achieve a 5.3 percent market share in the quarter.

Apple has a expanded way to go before it can seriously challenge rivals Nokia and RIM, which grabbed 42 percent and 13.4 percent global market shares, respectively. However, the iPhone is slated to become officially available in more than 60 countries around the world by the end of that year. Apple is additionally moving away from demanding market-exclusivity agreements, which have placed limitations on its ability to gain market share.

“There are quite a few countries now where Apple is going with more than one carrier,” noted Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi. “Their moving away from exclusivity is something we have seen for a while.”

Apple’s expansion overseas will plus help the company avoid lost out on its share of the service revenues currently generated by…

Orginal post by Top Tech News