iPhone stuffing Blackberry with larger global smartphone share

The London Telegraph has another mobile related story this morning:

Over 39.9 million smartphones were shipped around the world in the July – September period, representing a 28 per cent increase, according to Canalys, the market data company.

Apple sold 6.9 million of the smartphones, giving it a 17 per cent share of the global smartphone market, putting it in second place behind Nokia (18.9 percent).

The growth has been explained by the impact of Apple’s iPhone 3G, launched in July as well as the company’s market expansion to more countries outside the US.

Blackberry, made by Research in Motion (RIM), recorded sales of 6.1 million, giving it 15.3 per cent of the market.

In terms of operating systems, Windows Mobile has 13.5 per cent of the market, and Symbian has 46.6 per cent of the smartphone market.

Is it time to begin recognising the iPhone platform as a decent player in the smartphone market now?