Mobile phone sales may rise 21%
Forecasts by market research firms are more optimistic than earlier ones by the top three cellular phone makers
SAN FRANCISCO - Two market research firms said worldwide mobile phone unit sales will rise as much as 21 per cent this year, countering some recent forecasts from handset makers predicting a smaller increase or a decline.
Gartner's Dataquest subsidiary, based in San Jose, California, said phone makers are on pace to sell as many as 500 million handsets, while the ARC group of Shalford, England, forecast sales of 491 million units.
That is generally higher than predictions last month from the top three mobile phone makers:
Nokia, the largest, forecast sales of 450 million to 500 million units;
Motorola, the No 2 maker, put it at 425 million to 475 million units; and
Siemens, the third-ranked maker, expects sales to be near 400 million units.
'They basically don't want to get hung out to dry again,' Dataquest analyst Bryan Prohm said of the lower forecasts from the phone producers.
Nokia shares have dropped 34 per cent this year and Motorola's stock has fallen 30 per cent as the companies reduced sales targets.
Mr Prohm said the likelihood of unit sales reaching his 500 million target depends on whether Nokia, with 35 per cent of the market, is able to make enough phones to meet demand.
Other possibly limiting factors include the health of economies and the ability of wireless operators to add new subscribers, he said.
ARC, in a statement on Wednesday, cited unspecified recent information on new phone users, subscribers who switch services, and new handsets for Internet access as reasons for the researcher's relatively optimistic forecast.
Gartner also said Nokia increased its market share to 35.3 per cent in the first quarter from 33.9 per cent in the previous period, while Siemens, with an unchanged share of 6.9 per cent, vaulted into the No 3 slot past the sliding Ericsson, confirming figures that the handset makers released last month.
Motorola remained in second spot with 13.2 per cent of units sold, up from 12.7 per cent in the fourth quarter.
Samsung Electronics, with 6.3 per cent, reclaimed the No 5 position from Matsushita Electric Industrial's Panasonic brand.
In seventh position was NEC, followed by Mitsubishi, LG and Alcatel.
Gartner said 96.7 million handsets were sold in the first quarter and 412.7 million units were sold last year.
ARC put last year's sales at about 405 million units.--Bloomberg News |
