SAN JOSE, Calif.-Code Division Multiple Access handsets were the No. 1 selling handset in the United States during the first quarter with sales of 3.2 million units, said Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner Group Inc.
First-quarter sales of CDMA handsets surpassed the more established Time Division Multiple Access handset sales of 2.8 million units.
TDMA had been the leading handset technology in 1998, with 8.2 million unit sales, followed by CDMA with 6.8 million units and Global System for Mobile communications 1900 with 2.9 million units.
“We expect CDMA to maintain its momentum and actually increase the distance between itself and competing standards in the U.S. marketplace,” said Matt Hoffman, senior industry analyst and program manager for Dataquest’s Mobile Communications Terminal Devices North America program.
Nokia Corp. continued to lead the U.S. digital handset market with a 32.4-percent market share in the first quarter, said Dataquest. Qualcomm Inc. was in the No. 2 position.
“With the United States becoming a home market for CDMA, handset vendors that win here will have an advantage as the technology spreads to the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions,” stated Hoffman.
