SAN JOSE, Calif.-Worldwide mobile phone sales for the second quarter increased 0.8 percent from second quarter 2001, totaling 98.7 million units, according to Gartner Dataquest Inc.
Nokia Corp. continued to dominate phone sales, capturing a 35.6-percent share of the market in the second quarter.
Gartner Dataquest said it found signs that the mobile phone industry has reached a stabilizing point and is positioned for stronger growth.
“Mobile terminal manufacturers are preparing for a comprehensive transition of their product portfolios during the back half of 2002 to embrace color displays and other mobile data-enabling technologies,” said Bryan Prohm, senior analyst with the mobile communications worldwide research group for Gartner Dataquest. “Carriers, meanwhile, are increasingly focused on commercializing new applications and services. Many of these services, such as multimedia messaging service may serve to augment operator revenue from across a mature subscriber base while simultaneously acting as a catalyst for replacement sales.”
While Nokia led the way with a competitive entry-level GSM handset portfolio, Motorola saw sequential growth from the first quarter of this year. Motorola is preparing to engage Nokia in the company’s core GSM markets during the traditionally strong fourth quarter with the launch of the C330, said Gartner Dataquest.
Samsung Corp., now the No. 3 vendor, also saw significant year-over-year sales growth and is expected to achieve 10-percent global market share during the latter half of the year.
Gartner Dataquest predicted global handset sales will reach approximately 420 million units by the end of 2002.
