Nokia mobile dominance increases

Nokia high-end multimedia smartphones are soaring in popularity. They're helping to boost Nokia's global dominance further, mobile sales figures from the first quarter of 2007 show.

The latest figures released by telecoms researcher Gartner show Nokia increasing its share of the worldwide mobile market to 35.7 per cent. That's up from 33.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2006. Sales of its high-end multimedia mobiles drove this increase, Gartner reports. Some 8 million of Nokia's 92 million phones sold in the period were multimedia smartphones.

Motorola maintained its second spot, although its market share slid back to 18.5 per cent from 20.3 per cent the year before. Samsung consolidated its third place with an unchanged 12.5 per cent share.

Sony Ericsson's growing success with its Walkman and Cyber-shot ranges has seen its share increase to 8.4 per cent from 5.8 per cent a year previously. This has taken it up into fourth slot among mobile manufacturers.

Gartner's first quarter mobile sales figures show a 14 per cent year-on-year increase in mobile sales. A total of 257.4 million mobile phones were sold during the quarter. Gartner reported strong demand from the Asia/Pacific region, particularly China and Japan.

Global mobile market share 1st Quarter 2007

(Figures in brackets are Q1 2006 market share figures)
Company Share Sales

• Nokia 35.7% (33.9%) 91,974,100
• Motorola 18.5% (20.3%) 47,547,700
• Samsung 12.5% (12.5%) 32,057,800
• Sony Ericsson 8.4% (5.8%) 21,711,500
• LG 6.2% (6.5%) 15,966,700
• Other 18.8% (20.9%) 48,098,300
• Total 257,356,200