• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, May 7, 2010

Is 2010 the real Year of the Smartphone? Some had applied that label to 2009 because of the booming demand for high-end devices in the face of an otherwise dismal mobile phone market.

But during the first quarter, smartphone growth continued to surge, with worldwide shipments up almost 57% from a year ago, according to new data from market research firm IDC. What’s more, that increase easily outpaced the 38% growth from the fourth quarter, typically the strongest sales period for mobile devices.

Apple enjoyed the biggest share gain in the last year, going from a 10.9% to 16.1% slice of the market as it more than doubled shipments from the first quarter of 2009. Nokia remained the world's top smartphone seller, with 39.3% of shipments, unchanged from a year ago, while BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion held on to the second spot at 19.4%. Can Apple close the gap with RIM by year's end?