Smart phones pick up the pace

The smart-phone market appears to be gaining some ground, with several handset companies reporting strong growth in the segment, according to research company Canalys. Nokia remains top dog in converged devices, Canalys said in a report released Tuesday. Its closest rival, Motorola, is gaining a little ground too, leapfrogging BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion to become the second-largest vendor of smart phones.

Canalys found Nokia sold around 9 million smart devices worldwide during the quarter, with Motorola reaching more than 1.6 million, followed by RIM with 1.2 million. Motorola was able to beat RIM for the first time after shipping more than 1 million Linux smart phones in China.

Jo Best of Silicon.com reported from London.