To: w0z who wrote (911 ) 9/14/2000 5:26:09 PM From: All Mtn Ski Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1079 Let the fears abate: Cell phones to reach 420 million-unit target in 2000, says Dataquest Semiconductor Business News (09/14/00, 04:34:42 PM EDT) SAN JOSE -- The mobile telephone market remains on pace to exceed 420 million units in 2000, said Dataquest Inc., which today estimated that worldwide shipments of cellular phones reached 98 million handsets in the second quarter. Dataquest said the "Big Three" handset manufacturers continue to dominate mobile phone sales. Nokia, Motorola, and Ericcson had a combined market share of 53% in cell phones during the second quarter, said the San Jose research firm. Nokia sold 26,947 phones, or 27.5% of the handsets in the second quarter, with Motorola shipping 15,289 (15.6%) and Ericsson selling 10,132 phones (10.3%) in the second quarter, Dataquest said. Last year, mobile phone makers sold about 270 million handsets, according to some industry estimates. Last week, National Semiconductor Corp. managers said early forecasts from chip customers place cell phone shipments in 2001 at 600-to-650 million units (see Sept. 7 story). Chip makers have been attempting to scrutinize cell phone forecasts to avoid an oversupply of capacity in the next couple of years. "Comprehensive changes are taking place in key global markets that comprise much of the annual and quarterly volume, from second generation voice-centric handsets to data-enabled devices of varying flavors, such as iMode, wireless application protocol (WAP), and so forth," said Bryan Prohm, senior analyst for Dataquest's Mobile Terminal Worldwide program. "Mainstream market stability should return early in 2001, after the changeover to WAP and next generation products gains momentum," Prohm said. "Meanwhile, the shift to lower-end phones continues to lower barriers to market entry. There are more competitive share players in each major regional market now than in past years; as a result, supply has finally caught up with demand," he added. semibiznews.com