Global Mobile-Phone Sales Declined 3% in 2001, Gartner Says
quote.bloomberg.com
By Cecile Daurat
03/10 17:02
San Jose, California, March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Mobile-phone sales fell 3 percent last year, their first
decline ever, as phone companies cut subsidies on handsets and consumers snubbed new models, a
market research company said.
Sales declined to 399.6 million units in 2001, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner Inc. Nokia Oyj, the world's No. 1 cellular-phone maker increased its market share to 35 percent from 30.6 percent in 2000.
Phone makers shares slumped last year as demand waned and economies slowed. Nokia and rivals are
counting on new models with color screens, faster Internet access and new features that allow users to
swap images and music to revive sales in the second half of this year.
``We see a quite slow start in the first half of the year,'' said Ben Wood, an analyst at Gartner Dataquest.
``In the second half, we will start to see some market growth. The majors drivers will be color and new
services such as multimedia messaging.''
Sales will rise this year from last, Wood said, declining to provide a more detailed forecast.
Samsung Corp. had a 37 percent rise in unit sales, fueled by sponsorship campaigns and a diversification
of its product range, Dataquest said.
Ericsson AB slumped the most of the top five, with a 35 percent decline in handset sales. Its venture with
Sony Corp., called Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd., introduced new phones earlier this
month.
The following is a table of the biggest handset makers by unit shipments and market share last year. The
table was compiled by Gartner Dataquest.
Units '01 Share '01 Units '00 Share '00 Growth
(Millions) (percent) (Millions) (percent) (percent)
Nokia 139.7 35 126.4 30.6 10.5
Motorola 59.1 14.8 60.1 14.6 -1.7
Siemens 29.8 7.4 27 6.5 10.2
Samsung 28.2 7.1 20.6 5 36.8
Ericsson 27 6.7 41.5 10 -35
Total 399.6 100 412.7 100 -3.2
==================================
Global cell phone sales decline
news.com.com
By Reuters
March 10, 2002, 6:00 PM PT
Global mobile phones sales dipped below 400 million units in 2001, the first decline in
the history of the industry, which has recently seen a reshuffle among second-tier
manufacturers, research group Gartner Dataquest said Sunday.
Overall sales to consumers declined by 3.2 percent to 399.6 million mobile phones in the full
year, a marked difference from the 60 percent average growth rate between 1996 and 2000.
Sales were hurt by saturated markets in Europe, the removal of subsidies by telecoms
operators, a burgeoning second-hand market in developing countries and grey, unlisted
imports from overstocked distributors wanting to get rid of inventories that were built up in 2000,
said senior Gartner analyst Bryan Prohm.
On top of that, handset makers and operators failed to introduce new features that could convince consumers to replace their old handset with a new, more expensive one. Meanwhile, the slowing economy hurt consumer spending in general.
Consumers also shunned General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)--seen as a stepping stone to third-generation (3G) services. Network operators failed to convince end-users of the benefits of this new network, which offers slightly faster access to mobile Internet services, Gartner said.
Market leader Nokia from Finland recovered all ground it had lost
earlier in the year. It grabbed 36.9 percent of the market in the fourth quarter, up from 33.4 in
the third quarter as a new line-up of fancier models caught on with the Christmas shopping
crowds.
The company ended the year with a 35 percent market share, up from 30.6 percent in 2000.
Challenger Motorola from the United States, despite a fourth-quarter dip, halted its decline and
defended its No. 2 slot with a full-year market share of 14.8 percent, versus 14.6 percent in
2000.
However, the scramble for the third, fourth and fifth places continued. Germany's Siemens
moved into third, removing Sweden's Ericsson, which was also overtaken by South Korea's
Samsung Electronics.
The most impressive gains among the smaller players were chalked up by Samsung, which
climbed to a fourth-quarter market share of 7.9 percent, coming from 5 percent for 2000.
This was largely the result of its successful high-end clam-shell phone A300, which was
marketed heavily.
The most dramatic decline was suffered by Ericsson, which ended the year at a meager 5.5
percent fourth-quarter market share, down from 10 percent for the full year of 2000.
This was despite its relative success with the first color display phone for the GSM market, the
T68, which has triggered rival cell phone makers to speed up the launch of color screen
phones.
Ericsson has meanwhile joined its handset division with that of Japan's Sony and the new
combination Sony Ericsson would have boasted a 2001 combined global market share of 8.5
percent.
That share would have put it back at the No. 3 slot. The company, which earlier this week
showed off a new line-up of color screen and entertainment phones, reiterated it aims to
become the world's No. 1 cell phone maker within five years.
Germany's Siemens, which roared into the top five last year, managed to gain almost another
percentage point in 2001 as it continued to target both ends of the market with expensive and
cheap models.
All eyes are now on new products from market leader Nokia, expected to unveil new handsets
this week at the CeBIT electronics trade show in Hanover, Germany.
"Nokia has to announce pretty sensational products if it wants to hang on to its market share,"
said Gartner analyst Ben Wood. |
