Mobile phone sales hit 817 million in 2005

World-wide sales of mobile telephones rose by 21.0 percent last year when a total of 816.6 million handsets were taken up by users, and slightly more than half of them were made by Nokia and Motorola, a study by Gartner research showed on Tuesday.
Overall sales were driven by continuing demand in emerging markets, and by consumers in Western Europe and North America who snapped up new models to replace their existing mobiles.
Stiff competition among major players drove down prices for basic handsets and increased pressure to add applications and change design, it said.
Six companies shared 79.4 percent of the market last year, according to the study: Nokia, Motorola, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Siemens.
Nokia and Motorola increased their share to 50.2 percent, compared with 46.1 percent in 2004.
Nokia of Finland sold a total of 265.61 million mobile telephones representing 32.5 percent of the market from 30.7 percent in 2004.
The company sold twice as many telephones as its competitors in Western Europe and Asia, and three times more in the Eastern Europe, Middle East and African regions.
The share of the global market held by Motorola of the United States rose to 17.7 percent from 15.4 percent in 2004. It sold 144.92 million handsets and held on to its number two position world-wide and in Western Europe, and its top slot on its home market.
Samsung of South Korea stayed in third place, selling 103.75 million telephones and increasing its market share only slightly to 12.7 percent from 12.6 percent in 2004. Gartner put that down to a decision by the company not to engage in a price war with its competitors or to step into emerging markets.
LG, also of South Korea, sold 54.9 million telephones, representing a market share of 6.7 percent. In 2004 it had a 6.3-percent slice.
The Swedish-Japanese alliance Sony Ericcson, which was in fifth place, sold 51.77 million. That represented 6.3 percent of the market, up from 6.2 percent in 2004.
Germany's Siemens, however, saw a slump. Its 2005 sales of 28.59 million were almost half those a year earlier.
Overall, the industry sold 164.0 million mobiles in Western Europe last year. The East European, Middle East and African market was almost as healthy, reaching a combined 153.5 million.
In North America, sales were 148.4 million, while in Latin America they hit 102 million, a 40.0-percent increase from the figure in 2004. In the Asia-Pacific region, sales reached 204.0 million.