BOSTON-In just a year, Nokia Corp. has managed to steal the W-CDMA show. In the second quarter of last year, the handset vendor was fifth in terms of W-CDMA handset shipments, behind the likes of NEC Corp., LG Electronics Co. Ltd., Motorola Inc. and Panasonic. In the second quarter of this year, however, Nokia is the world’s No. 1 W-CDMA handset vendor.
“Step by step, Nokia is regaining ground in high-end device segments that it has lost to Motorola, Samsung, LG and others over the last couple of years,” said Neil Mawston, associate director of wireless device strategies with research and consulting firm Strategy Analytics.
The firm said Nokia scored 17 percent of the W-CDMA market in the second quarter of this year. Industry shipped a total of 9 million W-CDMA handsets in the quarter which was 5 percent of the total phone market.
“Early market leaders NEC and LG have been overtaken by Nokia, and they have significant work to do to match up in the next battle for W-CDMA phones priced below $200 wholesale, which will present significant mass-market opportunities in 2006 to 2010,” said Chris Ambrosio, director of Strategy Analytics’ wireless device strategies service.
