SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The mobile phone industry shipped more than 100 million units and scored a 7.8% increase in sales volume from the same period a year earlier, according to Dataquest Inc., a market research subsidiary of Gartner Inc.
Worldwide mobile phone sales totaled 104.3 million units in the third quarter of 2002, Dataquest estimated, but the market watcher also charted a steep decline in sales for Sony-Ericsson.
"The most encouraging development was that each of the six principal geographic regions tracked by Gartner Dataquest recorded a sequential increase in demand," said Bryan Prohm, senior analyst with the mobile communications research group for Dataquest. He added: "The positive momentum generated during the third quarter of 2002 seems well positioned to carry over into the fourth quarter of 2002, when a wave of innovative mobile terminal models are expected to become widely available."
In terms of rankings Nokia, Samsung and Siemens all increased market share at the expense of Sony-Ericsson, which suffered a 30.4% fall in units shipped compared with Ericsson shipments alone in the third quarter of 2001. As a result Ericsson's 7.8% market share in Q3 2001 was reduced to 4.8% market share in Q3 2002.
Meanwhile market leader Nokia further distanced itself from its competition in the third quarter, as its market share grew to 35.9%. In regions such as Western Europe and the larger Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regional market Nokia was able to exceed 50% market share.
Number two mobile phone maker Motorola saw its market share decline slightly to 14.4% on increased sales.
Fast rising Korean mobile phone maker Samsung had another strong quarter, with 50.2% increase in units in Q3 2002 compared to the same quarter a year earlier. As a result its market share went from 7.5% to 10.6%.
