Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales Grew 15% in 3Q2007

Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users in the third quarter of 2007 reached 289 million units, a 15 percent increase from the same period last year, according to Gartner Inc. The top five vendors increased their market shares and accounted for 81.6 percent of the global market share.

"Even though relatively few models were introduced this quarter, overall sales exceeded expectations. Mobile phone sales were mainly driven by strong performances in Asia/Pacific and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa," said Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices research at Gartner. "The third quarter also saw Samsung gain the No. 2 position taking advantage of Motorola's continued weak performance."

Nokia's mobile phone sales to end-users totaled 110.2 million units reaching a market share of 38.1 percent in the third quarter of 2007. This quarter, Nokia not only exhibited the highest year-on-year market share increase, but also raised operating margins thanks to effective cost management and global distribution strategy. Nokia was also the main provider of those devices as Motorola shifted focus away from them.

Samsung's sales to end users reached 41.8 million units and saw the vendor gain the No. 2 position as it better managed its channel inventory. Sales of its Ultra Edition II series continued to gain momentum in key markets such as Western Europe, where Samsung reached 21 percent market share, its strongest performance in the region.

Motorola's sales into the channel remained weak and, with limited surplus stock, sales to end-users were not enough to maintain its No. 2 position. Motorola's market share dropped 7.6 percentage points from the third quarter of 2006, relegating the vendor to the No. 3 position.

Sony Ericsson's positive performance continued in the third quarter of 2007 as sales reached 25.4 million units. As Sony Ericsson built up sales volume and presence in some regions, such as Latin America, it also saw a slight increase in inventory among distributors.

LG sold 20.5 million units in the third quarter of 2007 and reached a market share of 7.1 percent. LG faced stronger competition in markets such as India, where the code division multiple access (CDMA) market has become challenging as operators closed deals with new entrants such as ZTE.
Source:http://www.wirelessdesignasia.com