Apple (AAPL) Tops in Smartphone Revenue

Even though Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) is far behind market leader Nokia (NYSE:NOK) in global market share for smartphones, they are the leader in revenue generated for smartphones in 2010, according to a report from research firm Strategy Analytics.

"Apple commanded just 16% of the world's smartphone market volume in 2010, Strategy Analytics said, but took in the lion's share of revenue - 29% of all smartphone revenue. Apple shipped roughly 46 million iPhones during 2010; the company charges roughly $600 for its iPhone 4 - putting the iPhone's selling price at the very high end of the market," noted Motley Fool.

"Nokia, which ended the year with 34% smartphone market share, captured 20% of 2010 smartphone revenues, and Research In Motion (Nasdaq:RIMM), which had 16.7% share, took in 15% of smartphone revenues. Combined, the three biggest firms generated 64% of all smartphone revenues."

The research firm predicted that Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Android smartphone sales will grow significantly in 2011, with players such as ZTE and Huawei crowding in with the likes of Samsung and HTC, particularly at the lower end of the market.

With the smartphone market still wide open and a lot of time to pass before the winners in the narrative emerge, there is already pressure on Apple in pricing, as Google enlarges its position with growing Android sales, which are lower in price and margins, but growing in numbers.

The global economy will be a big part of this story, as it continues to teeter, and appears to be worse than politicians around the world are willing to admit.

In that case, price will become a factor, and it could gravitate toward being more of a commodity sector, which would hurt Apple the most.

Apple was trading at $330.73, down $14.70, or 4.26 percent, as of 2:38 PM EDT. Google was at $557.63, falling $11.93, or 2.09 percent. Nokia was down to $7.90, dropping $0.16, or 1.99 percent.