Despite managing to dent the fortification of the mobile phone giant Nokia in the western European mobile handset market in quater 4 of 2010, Android phone operating system's phenominal growth, has not succeeded in knocking out Nokia comprehensivly from the mobile market.

Total shipment of mobile phones had witnessed an increase by 3.2 per cent year on year in the western European mobile market to 58.7 million units. This information was provided by IDC. Of this, the shipment of smartphones accounted for 25.6 million units or 44 per cent of the addressable market.

Nokia mobile phone shipments dropped by 11 per cent to 19.6 million units or 33 per cent of the market in the pervious three months of 2011. Samsung meanwhile shipped 15.3 million mobile phones, while Apple accounted for 9 per cent of the market to end up in the third place. Apple shipped during the quarter, 5.2 million iPhones.

The top five slots were claimed by Nokia, Samsung, Apple, Sony Ericsson and RIM, according to IDC. Of the five, Sony Ericsson and RIM accounted for around 7 per cent of the market.

In terms of the shipped smartphones the market leadership position was maintained by Nokia. Apple finished second, while RIM, HTC and Sony Ericsson finished at 3rd 4th and 5th positions respectively. According to IDC all the five mobile phones makers experienced growth in this category.