According to a Forward Concepts forecast, the global smartphone marked will continue to grow by 24 percent a year until 2014.

The market recorded 18 percent growth in 2009, despite the economic crisis. Around 171 million smartphones were sold last year, with total sales estimated at $67 billion.

Nokia is still the market leader, with a 36.4 percent share, but it's share has been melting away in recent years, due to strong competition from Apple, RIM and HTC. RIM trails Nokia with a 19.4 percent share, Apple holds 14.9 percent of the market, while HTC managed to grab 6.3 percent of the pie.

Interest in smartphones has increased in Europe and North America, mainly thanks to the iPhone and the introduction of Android phones.

Forward Concepts expects Symbian to remain the dominant OS, but it forecasts that Android will manage to slide into the second position, ahead of Windows Mobile, Apple OSX and RIM's Blackberry.

More here.