General market comments
001: Gartner Sees Global Handset Unit Sales Down 10% In 08
001: Device Mkt To Remain Relatively Immune To Recession In 2008
001: 2nd UPDATE: Gartner Sees Handset Sales Growth Slowing In 08
002: (Adds comment.)
003: By Adam Ewing
004: Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
005: STOCKHOLM (Dow Jones)--Research firm Gartner Inc. (IT) Wednesday said it
006: expects growth in sales of mobile telecommunications devices to decelerate to
007: about 10% in 2008 as markets mature, but said strength in emerging markets
008: would help the industry weather a recession in the U.S. and Western Europe.
009: Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner, told Dow
010: Jones Newswires she expects global handset sales to reach 1.278 billion units
011: in 2008, representing a slowing in sales growth compared with last year. But
012: Milanesi expects sales growth to rebound by a few percentage points in 2009 as
013: more users look to replace their handsets.
014: Gartner said 1.15 billion mobile devices were sold in 2007, up from the 990.9
015: million sold in 2006.
016: Finnish mobile phone goliath Nokia Corp. (NOK) pulled away from competition,
017: ending the year with a fourth-quarter 40.4% global market share, up from 36.2%
018: at the end of 2006, thanks to its strength in the booming emerging markets of
019: India and China, and despite a decline in market share in North America. Demand
020: for higher-end handsets in Western Europe helped give Nokia a boost. "Emerging
021: markets, especially China and India, provided much of the growth as many people
022: bought their first phone," said Milanesi. "In mature markets, such as Japan and
023: Western Europe, consumers' appetite for feature-laden phones was met with new
024: models packed with TV tuners, global positioning satellite, GPS, functions,
025: touch screens and high-resolution cameras."
026: She said Nokia needs to focus on North America to keep the momentum in 2008.
027: "This is the area where they have the largest potential," she said.
028: She said Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone had led the way in handset functionality
029: and design, with the market now eagerly awaiting Nokia's attempt at a
030: touch-screen interface.
031: South Korean handset manufacturer Samsung Electronics (005930.SE) maintained
032: its second position with a fourth-quarter market share of 13.4% compared with
033: 11.3% in 2006. Milanesi said its success was due to its Ultra and Ultra II
034: family of products.
035: U.S. mobile phone manufacturer Motorola Inc. (MOT) saw a sharp drop in its
036: fourth-quarter market share, falling 9.6 percentage points quarter-on-quarter,
037: ending with a 11.9% share of the market.
038: Sony Ericsson, the mobile handset joint venture between Japanese Sony Corp.
039: (SNE) and Swedish Telefon AB LM Ericsson (ERIC), had a 9% fourth-quarter market
040: share, level with the year before.
041: Milanesi said Sony Ericsson's widening reach, adding features such as Wi-Fi
042: and GPS and more low-tier products, will help it stay competitive in the coming
043: quarters.
044: LG Electronics (066570.SE) had a 7.1% market share in the fourth quarter,
045: moving up slightly from the 6.3% in 2006. "In 2008, LG will need to continue
046: strengthening its high-end portfolio for mature markets as well as its mid
047: tier," said Milanesi. "In the low tier, LG will increasingly be challenged by
048: vendors such as ZTE (000063.SZ), which has already been eroding its market
049: share in key markets such as India."
Overall: 10% unit growth - I don't complain
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