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Mobile phone market showing signs of stability
27 August 2002
Latest figures from Gartner Dataquest show a small rise in mobile phone sales, coupled with good prospects for the second half of the year.
Worldwide mobile phone sales totaled 98.7 million units in the second quarter of 2002, a 0.8% increase from the same period last year, according to Gartner Dataquest. Analysts say there are signs that the mobile phone industry has reached a point of stability and is positioned for stronger growth.
"Overall, expectations remain high for a strong fourth-quarter selling season worldwide, driven in part by the introduction of numerous new, low-cost terminals from leading manufacturers," said Bryan Prohm, senior analyst with the Mobile Communications Worldwide research group for Gartner Dataquest. "Therefore, we continue to believe that worldwide mobile terminal sales to end users will reach approximately 420 million units in 2002."
Mobile phone manufacturers are preparing for a comprehensive transition of their product portfolios during the back half of 2002 to embrace color displays and other mobile data-enabling technologies. Meanwhile, carriers are increasingly focused on commercializing new applications and services, such as multimedia messaging service (MMS). These are likely to boost operator revenue from across a mature subscriber base, while simultaneously acting as a catalyst for replacement sales.
Nokia continued to dominate worldwide mobile phone sales during the second quarter of 2002, thanks to the continued competitiveness of its entry-level GSM portfolio. Motorola meanwhile, saw sequential growth from the first quarter of this year, while preparing to engage Nokia in Nokia's core GSM markets during the traditionally strong fourth quarter with the launch of the C330.
Nokia sold just over 35 million mobile phones in the second quarter of 2002, giving it a 35.6% market share, while Motorola had 15.7% of the market. The top five was completed by Samsung (9.5% market share), Siemens (8.4%) and Sony Ericsson (5.4%). Samsung increased its sales by 46.4% compared to the second quarter of 2001.
While worldwide mobile phone sales to end-users experienced a slight increase in the second quarter of 2002, shipments from the manufacturers into the sales channel (sell-in) totaled 97.5 million units, up 8.2% from the second quarter of 2001. Gartner Dataquest analysts said the sell-in statistics show further evidence that the relationship between global supply and demand has been well managed in 2002.
Gartner Dataquest’s outlook for replacement sales during the back half of the year remains steadfastly optimistic, particularly in Western Europe. "The frenzy of marketing activity around new services such as picture and photo messaging by mobile network operators in Western Europe is likely to fuel replacement demand for color mobile phones in the second half of 2002," said Ben Wood, senior analyst for Gartner Dataquest in Europe. "The extremely aggressive pricing of entry-level phones by some manufacturers may lead network operators to increase their subscriber bases by once again offering low-priced prepaid packages at the end of the year." |
