Nokia Leads Mobile Phone Growth

The worldwide mobile phone market grew again in Q3 2004, with renewed strength for Nokia, according to IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Qview.

Worldwide mobile phone shipments rose 23% year over year and increased sequentially 7% in 3Q04 to 164.1 million units. Nokia's market share rose back above 30% after a dip in the first two quarters, greater than the combined share of second placed Motorola and third placed Samsung. IDC says this reflects Nokia's reinforcement of its offering of mid-range and high-end handsets with fashion, camera, and enterprise-focused mobile phones and converged mobile devices.

The third quarter was characterised by strong replacement trends in established markets and increased shipments into regions with low mobile penetration rates, according to David Linsalata, analyst in IDC's Mobile Devices program. 'Key to this growth has been the continued effort by mobile phone vendors to engage in a constant cycle of innovation, improvement, and renewal throughout their product portfolios'.

Nokia posted a year-over-year shipment increase of 13.6% and a sequential gain of 13.2%, with market share up from 29.6% in the second quarter to 31.3% in the third quarter. Motorola showed 15.3% year-on-year growth but a 3.3% slip in sequential shipments leading to a decline of 1.5% in market share. Its challenger for the second spot, Samsung, grew sales 51.2% year-on-year, but sequentially shipments were fairly flat due to sluggish demand in the domestic market and increased competition internationally.

Siemens saw a dramatic sequential drop in shipments during the second quarter, but rebounded with a 20.2% sequential gain in the third quarter. LG Electronics posted a 55.1% year-over-year increase in shipments on the strength of increased CDMA and GSM sales in North America and Europe; and an 18.7% sequential shipment gain, pushing it past Sony Ericsson and claim the number 5 spot, only 0.4% behind Siemens.

IDC's web site is at www.idc.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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