Mobile sales exceed quarter of a billion in Q1

Permalink: Mobile sales exceed quarter of a billion in Q1 by brian

Soaring demand in China, Japan and other Asia/Pacific countries helped push sales of mobile phones, in the first quarter of 2007, to over a quarter of a billion units.

Nokia was the global market leader, holding 35.7% of the market and selling 92 million handsets in the quarter, with Motorola in second place, followed by Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and LG.

Research firm Gartner said that shipments increased 14% to 257.4 million units in the first quarter of 2007, compared with the same quarter a year ago.

Western Europe and North America recorded strong sales over Christmas, followed by an expected slowdown.

Gartner expects handset makers to ship 1.15 billion units this year, a 16% increase compared with 2006.

2007 sales are expected to be driven by the sale of new phones in regions such as Africa, and replacement sales in emerging markets. In mature markets such as North America and Western Europe, replacement sales are expected to be lower than in 2005 and 2006.