Market research firm Gartner has recorded mobile phone sales of over 1.15 billion in 2007, globally. If compared to the 2006 sales, 2007 has experienced a 16 percent growth from 990.9 units’ sales. The fourth quarter of 2007 delivered a sale of 330 million units.
Nokia topped the list with a share of 37.8 %, followed by Motorola with 14.3 % and Samsung that provided 13.4 % of sales. While, Sony Ericsson stood fourth with its 8.8 % share in sales, and fifth position was taken by LG with its 6.8% of sales.
“Emerging markets, especially China and India, provided much of the growth as many people bought their first phone,†said Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner, based in Egham, UK.
It was noticed that the developing world has been a major contribution to increase the sales figure, whereas the sales in the developed world was driven by buyers who wanted a high-end phone that offers a variety of features.
According to research, “In mature markets, such as Japan and Western Europe, consumers’ appetite for feature-laden phones was met with new models packed with TV tuners, global positioning satellite (GPS) functions, touch screens and high-resolution cameras.â€
Moreover, into the top ten lists, three new vendors were found including Research In Motion (RIM), ZTE and Apple. ZTE has been eroding its market share in key markets such as India. Apple sold over 4 million units, including 2.3 million units in the last quarter alone.
Gartner also mentioned that the next year’s sale of mobile phone won’t accelerate. In fact, it is expected to slow down to about 10% growth, as the mature markets will become more saturated.
Milanesi added, “However, the global mobile devices market will remain relatively immune to a recession in the US and Western European economies as the majority of growth in 2008 will come from emerging markets. The mature Western Europe and North America markets are driven by operator contract terms and replacement cycles and will account for just 30 per cent of the global mobile devices market in 2008.â€
A market research suggests that mobile phone makers should constantly try to meet the consumers’ desires for fashionable, easy-to-use phones as well as lower the price and make them more personalized handsets.
