Canalys has released it's latest set of figures for the global smart mobile device in Q1 2006. Shipments up are 55% year on year with Nokia increasing it's global market share to 54% with 8.6 million devices sold. This together with strong performances from Mitsubishi and Sharp (4th and 5th in global sales respectively) gives Symbian it's highest ever marketshare at 69%. Additionally the Asia-Pacific market has over taken the EMEA market in smart mobile device shipments.
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I should have added a note that these figures are of course not guaranteed to be accurate. Everyone uses different figures to divide up the market into categories.
Its also worth noting the picture is going to change (a lot) with the Eseries device and the S60 3rd Edition device in general. Q1 has been a bit quiet for phone launches from S60's point of view. We wont see thier full impact until Q3 2006.
Simon Judge has a good take on this.
http://mobilephonedevelopment.com/archives/193
Just to follow what Simon Judge says, what the Symbian market needs now is a mechanism for people to install new features on their smartphones from their actual phone.
There could be an icon that says something like "add new features", and it'd then take them to an app that would let them buy and install applications seamlessly, as if they were just changing the wallpaper. This app could be run by operators if the smartphone is provided by a network, and could be a major source of revenue from them in an age where the phone bill is looking like an endangered species.
As for the actual downloading of the apps, this can be done with 3G and/or wi-fi, which are ever-closer to becoming standard features on smartphones.
At the moment, the "download to PC, transfer to memory card" system is just too complicated and obscure for most users who don't even know they own a smartphone or that these applications exist. The best way to let them know about the apps, and the best way to let them obtain them, is by building this ability into the smartphones themselves.
However, note that the "download to PC, transfer to memory card" works just fine for quite many iPod users, and there is no reason why it couldn't be made as smooth for other types of content than music, and other devices than the iPod (or other music players).
The Catalogs application sort of does what you describe krisse. Trouble is operators have a vested interest here and are stifling innovation.
The iPod thing does work well but people are buying iPods in order to put their music collection on them. They are buying a phone to make phone calls and send texts. It isn't so much about the process of getting apps on the phone (although making it easier and more available can't help). It's about making people a) aware it's possible b) aware of the advantages.