For many quarters the smartphone has set the pace, reporting rises within the general mobile phone market as the fastest growing segment. But in these austere times, has the smartphone run out of steam?

No says industry researchers Gartner. The rise of the smartphone to eventual world domination and control of the human species is continuing, with sales up an impressive 12.8%, equating to 41 million units.

Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner, said about the wonder machine:
“Smartphones continued to represent the fastest-growing segment of the mobile-devices market and we remain confident about the potential for smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2009 and in 2010.”

And the top five players in the market haven’t changed that much, with Nokia leading the way with 39.3%; Research in Motion (BlackBerry) at 20.8%; Apple, 17.1%; HTC, 6.5%; and, Samsung bringing up the rear with 3.2%.

But that doesn’t tell the whole story of course. Nokia might be the leader in the market, but it was the only smartphone manufacturer in the third quarter to lose market share, around 3%, and an all-time low. Nokia might hog the middle ground, but it lacks a show stealer smartphone at the top end of the market. And nothing in the pipeline looks likely to steal the thunder of BlackBerry makers RIM, up nearly 5% and uber-cool Apple, which again took a 5% increase.

For RIM it was their highest share yet and particularly impressive as it appears to be more than holding it’s own against the cool kid on the block, Apple. But helping Blackberry were the Curve 8900 sales volumes in Europe and the Tour and Storm 2 with Verizon Wireless in the US. RIM also benefited from pre-paid sales and more flexible BlackBerry Internet Service offerings, which drove volumes in emerging markets like Latin America.

Apple shipped seven million units, as the rollout of the iPhone 3GS continued in new countries. And Apple is trying very hard in China.

HTC only put on 2%, but that only includes its own-branded products and does not reflect this comparatively new entrant’s dominance in this sector. Samsung nearly saved Nokia’s blushes, only managing a 0.2% increase.

In terms of the heart of the smartphone, the operating system, Symbian lost ground (because of Nokia’s performance), whereas Android picked up momentum. But with only a handful of Android devices available, its share remained small at 3.5%. The oft-quoted demise of the Windows Mobile operating system is complicated by the fact that version 6.5 only became available in October, too late to have an impact on the third quarter, so sales of Windows-based smartphones saw another decline.

The worldwide mobile phone market grew by 308.9 million units in the third quarter of 2009 say researchers Gartner. But although that means another 300 or so million phones for the planet to eventually recycle, it’s a paltry 0.1% increase from the same period in 2008. But what about sales in the fourth quarter, and how have the top five manufacturers performed?

Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner, said on the figures:
“The third quarter of 2009 saw the announcement of many new mobile devices, including several Android smartphones ready for the holiday season in the fourth quarter, but hardware commoditisation and the growth in open platforms will make it harder for them to stand out.

“Meanwhile, the channel slowed its inventory-reduction efforts so while some sales volumes increased, average selling prices (ASPs) stagnated. We expect pressure on ASP to continue into 2010.

“Many devices will reach the market in time for Christmas, and mobile carriers will run incentives for consumers during the holidays. We expect sales of mobile devices in the fourth quarter of 2009 to show year-over-year growth. As many vendors and industry watchers call for a decrease in sales into the channel, our sell through data is showing that 2009 performance will be flat rather than down over 2008.”

During the period under review, Nokia remained top-dog with a whopping 113.5 million phones shipped, a handsome 36.7% of the market, although that was down a touch from the 38.2% gained in the third quarter 2008. Nokia was faced with component shortages, but also that familiar problem of not having a knock-em-dead, top of the market smartphone. Nokia dominated the mid-tier market, but seemed unable to make a killing at the upper end.

Samsung consolidated its number two slot in the market with a very strong 2009 third quarter, increasing its market share 2.5% over last year, at 60.6 million units. Samsung got most things right, having a good time with touchscreen devices, qwerty phones and smartphones driving sales in the mature markets of Europe and the US. In emerging markets, it’s policy of refreshing older models helped the good figures.

In common with Nokia, third-placed LG appears more comfortable in the middle ground and lacks a smartphone portfolio. And it did manage to increase its market share from 7.8% to 10.3% with 31.9 million phones shipped.

The remaining two of the big five mobile phone manufacturers didn’t fair so well as their peers. Number four, Motorola, lost 3.5% share of the market, shipping 13.9 million phones, as it waits for fourth quarter product launches. Fifth placed Sony Ericsson dropped about the same market share as Motorola, selling nearly the same amount of phones, 13.4 million, as sales of it’s phones deteriorated.