The first smartphones came onto the market in the late 1990s, offering features such as e-mail communication, text-based web-browsing, QUERTY keyboards and in-built cameras. The first smartphone as we know it today, with a HD touchscreen, countless apps and high-speed internet on the go, was introduced by none other than Apple in 2007 with the launch of the iPhone.

As of 2012, the number of smartphone users in the United States stood at approximately one third of the total population and industry experts expect this number to continue rising into the future. Around the world more than one billion smartphones have been sold since 2007 and demand is only expected to keep growing.

Until 2010 it was Nokia that dominated the global smartphone market. Today however, Apple and Samsung are clearly leading the pack. Other prominent smartphone vendors include HTC, RIM (Blackberry) and Sony Ericsson. When it comes to mobile operating systems, Android took over as the clear market leader as of the fourth quarter of 2010 and has only further increased its lead since then. Apple’s operating system iOS is also a strong competitor, followed by Symbian and RIM (Blackberry). Photo: Wikimedia/cc, TechGizmo

• • Overview - global smartphone market
  • Global smartphone OS markt
• • U.S. smartphone market