Apple hit the number three spot in the smart mobile device market in 2007, a Canalys research confirmed in its report released on Tuesday. Considering that the iPhone made its debut by mid 2007, the 6.5% market share in Q4 is something worth mentioned, especially for the fact that the smartphone had a limited availability, compared to its competitors.

“When you consider that it launched part way through the year, with limited operator and country coverage, and essentially just one product, Apple has shown very clearly that it can make a difference and has sent a wakeup call to the market leaders,” Pete Cunningham, Canalys senior analyst, said according to the official report.

Apple was outran by Nokia, with a 52.9% market share, and RIM, 11.4%, while it managed to stay close to Motorola, also with a 6.5% market share in the fourth quarter of 2007. According to Canalys estimations, Apple took 28% share of the U.S. market in the Q4 alone, while RIM remained leader with 41%, the report says.

It’s been a good end of the year for Apple, and many smartphone developers have had to deal with Apple’s challenge, and the competition is likely to get tougher in 2008. At the same time, the question everyone is asking now is whether the iPhone will manage to keep up: “Experience shows that a vendor with only one smart pone design, no matter how good the design is, will soon struggle. A broad, continually refreshed portfolio is needed to retain and grow share in this dynamic market. This race is a marathon, but you pretty much have to sprint every lap,” Cunningham said in the same report.

The Canalys research on the growth of converged device market in 2007 unveil that 10% of the global mobile phone is represented by high-end devices, with an average growth of 60% a year in sales, which turns them into one of the fastest growing segments of the technology industry, and reaching the highest peak in the fourth quarter of 2007.