With some recent research suggesting that smartphones will be the saviours of mobile retailing, Gartner has brought us down to earth a bit. It says worldwide smartphone sales grew by just 3.7% in Q4 2008 - their lowest-ever growth rate - although overall growth for the year was up 13.9% from 2007. Smartphone sales accounted for 12% of all handset sales in Q4, up just 1% year-on-year. Nokia maintained its position as the best-selling smartphone manufacturer, with RIM in second place, Apple in third, HTC's own-brand products in fourth and Samsung pushing out Sharp to take fifth place. [Press release]