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To date, Apples iPhone has carved out a 5.3 per cent share of smartphone sales around the world, selling over 1.7 million units in the first quarter of this year alone.

In North America, where Nokia's offerings seem to continuously fail to make a lasting impression, RIM commands first place with a 42 per cent share of the smartphone market, followed by Apple with a 20 per cent cut.

RIM has said the Blackberry exploded with over 107 per cent increase in sales between 2007 and 2008, going from 2 million sales to 4.3 million worldwide and Nokia also managed an impressive growth spurt of more than 25 per cent, according to Gartner.

However, if predictions are correct, it's the company named after a piece of fruit that will have the most impressive sales figures soon.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has predicted that he will sell 10 million iPhones in its first 18 months. So far, Apple has sold just over 5 million phones.

Many analysts agree with Jobs saying that a lower price and new international markets means another 5 million sales will be an easy target for Apple this year.

Furthermore, Apple reported sales revenue of $US24.0 billion in 2007 and analysts say that sales growing to $US34 billion this year is well on the cards, eventually hitting just below $US50 billion in 2009, all thanks to the iPhone.

Not bad for a company that 8 years ago was almost on the verge of becoming irrelevant.