Samsung said it plans to triple its smartphone sales this year as part of its effort to increase its overall handset sales by 19 percent. The company also boasted that this will put it into direct competition with smartphone leaders such as Apple, HTC and Research in Motion.

The company, the world's No. 2 handset maker by unit shipments, said it will increase its smartphone sales in 2010 to around 18 million units, up from 6 million in 2009, by focusing its efforts on Google's Android platform, Microsoft's Windows Mobile and its own bada OS.

"There'll be a big change in our smartphone strategy this year," J.K. Shin, the president of Samsung's telecommunications division, told reporters in Seoul. "We plan to strengthen our smartphone business this year by not just improving hardware offerings but also beefing up content, applications, services."

The focus on smartphones, where Samsung has been a relative laggard compared with some of its competitors, is part of a broader effort to outpace the wider handset market. In late January, Samsung predicted the overall handset market would rise 10 percent in 2010 compared with last year. While Samsung enjoys 20 percent of the overall global handset market, it only has around 3 percent of the global smartphone market. According to research firm IDC, Nokia commanded the lead in the smartphone market in the fourth quarter of last year with 38.2 percent share, followed by RIM with 19.6 percent, Apple with 16 percent, Motorola with 4.6 percent and HTC with 4.4 percent.

Interestingly, Samsung's South Korean rival LG recently proclaimed similar smartphone ambitions, and also plans to rely on Windows Mobile and Android.

For more:
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article (sub. req.)
- see this Bloomberg article
- see this Reuters article

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As the handset market regains some of its momentum, what handsets and phone functions are leading the charge? Every month, research firm Strategy Analytics issues a report on the new handsets released during that month, and provides rankings based on the specifications of those handsets. Thanks to a partnership between the firm and FierceWireless, we'll bring you some of these key figures. In November, another 101 new handsets and seven new USB dongles were announced globally by 33 vendors. One of the highlights from the report is that NTT DoCoMo launched 13 high-devices from various Japanese handset OEMs, all with 7.2 Mbps HSDPA capability. Check out the other trends: Special feature

Nokia reduced the price on phones across its handset portfolio in late January, according to Reuters, citing industry sources who said the world's largest handset maker cut prices by as much as 10 percent. The effort brings the company's handset pricing more in-line with offerings from Nokia rivals, such as Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Nokia spokesman Joseph Gallo told FierceWireless that "price adjustments are a normal part of our business" and that any recent changes to prices across the portfolio are not out of the norm. Beyond that, he said, the company does not comment on pricing for specific models.

Nokia reported strong earnings for the fourth quarter, with shipments of 126.9 million units up 12 percent from the year-ago quarter and up 17 percent sequentially. The company also made strides in the smartphone market--its global market share shot up to 40 percent in the period, an upswing of the 35 percent it reported in the third quarter. Nokia shipped 20.8 million smartphone units in the fourth quarter of 2009, up from 15.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The drop in Nokia's handset prices could help spur sales of high-end smartphones, but also might hurt margins on mid-tier and low-end devices.

Last week, Nokia reiterated expectations of 10 percent growth this year over last year in the overall handset market, though it said it expects its share of the market to remain flat.

For more:
- see this Reuters article

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The "year-long recession" in the handset industry is over--at least according to research firm Strategy Analytics. The firm found that handset shipments rose by 10 percent in the fourth quarter to 324.4 million units, up from 293.8 million in the year-ago quarter. The future looks bright as well: Both Nokia and Samsung have forecast 10 percent market growth for 2010 compared with 2009. However, not all of the major players have benefited from the comeback: Both Motorola and Sony Ericsson continue to struggle with falling market share. FierceWireless breaks down the handset industry's fourth quarter with commentary from Strategy Analytics and research company IDC. Special feature