Mobile sales still rising

Six biggest vendors take almost 80 per cent of market

Mobile phone sales rose 21 per cent in 2005 compared to 2004, according to figures released today by analyst Gartner.

And the top six vendors claimed 79.4 per cent of the 816.6 million units sold last year.

So-much-so, more than one-third of the world’s phone users bought a Nokia phone in the last quarter of 2005.

Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, SonyEricsson and BenQMobile increased their combined market share from 78 per cent in the first quarter of 2005 to 84 per cent by the last quarter.

But Gartner mobile terminal analyst Tuong Nguyen says this rate of growth will not be matched through 2006.

‘The explosive growth experienced over the past few quarters is slowing,’ he said. ‘We expect year-on-year growth in the region in 2006 to be in the single high-digits.’

In Western Europe, last year’s sales totalled 164 million units in 2005, driven by upgrades to newer, fashion or third-generation phones. Christmas promotions saw sales peak in the fourth quarter at 49.1 million units.

Carolina Milanesi, Gartner principal analyst for mobile terminals research said: ‘In countries such as the UK, people were even prepared to subscribe to a new contract before their existing contract ended to acquire the pink ‘razr’ phone.’