Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc., the world’s two largest mobile phone makers, widened their lead in the market for handsets a! s demand in Asia lifted unit sales to a record in the fourth quarter. Nokia’s market share rose to 36.2 percent from 35 percent a year earlier, researcher Gartner Inc. said in a statement. Motorola’s share climbed to 21.5 percent from 17.8 percent, while that at Samsung Electronics Co., the third-largest manufacturer, fell to 11.3 percent from 12.1 percent.
Gartner predicted global handset sales of about 1.2 billion units this year after shipments soared 21 percent last year, bolstered by emerging markets like China and India. Espoo, Finland-based Nokia and Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola also increased their market shares sequentially and for the full-year as did Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd. Fourth-quarter unit sales climbed 21 percent to 284.2 million units, led by a 56 percent jump in the Asia-Pacific region, Gartner said.
Source: Mint
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