|
Nokia extends phone lead
|
 |
February 8, 2000: 6:59 a.m. ET
Finnish firm storms to 27% share of global cellular handset market
|
LONDON (CNNfn) - Nokia retained its lead as the most popular maker of cellular handsets, according to data released Tuesday, and the Finnish giant extended its lead over established rivals Motorola and Ericsson.
Research firm Dataquest, part of GartnerGroup, calculated that 283 million cellular handsets were sold in 1999, a 65 percent rise over the 1998 figure. The firm expects that growth rate to moderate to 45 percent in 2000. By the end of this year some 410 million handsets should have been sold.
Nokia's global market share leapt to 27 percent from 22.5 percent according to the data, as the company sped away from second-placed Motorola with 17 percent and third-ranked Ericsson with 10.5 percent.
Nokia almost doubled sales of its handsets to 76 million over the 12 months. Catching up with the pack was the Korean giant Samsung, which vaulted into fourth place from sixth after almost quadrupling its sales.
Dataquest attributed Nokia's success to "a focused branding campaign, strong product design and an unrivalled distribution channel."
Motorola (MOT: Research, Estimates) and Ericsson both slipped down the pecking order in terms of market share, although they retained their global rankings.
Western Europe attracted one third of the handsets sold in 1999, against 18 percent for North America.
"The European market took off in 1999," said Dataquest analyst Peter Richardson, but he predicted a "significant step up" in North America as cellular usage become more commonplace there. That is particularly likely when the United States adopts a "caller pays" system similar to that in Europe. That's likely within a year or so. The introduction of "pre-pay" billing systems also contributed significantly to the popularity of cell phones in Europe.
Dataquest's research found that roughly three quarters of the phones sold were fairly basic models, with advanced capabilities and features playing only a minor role.
That's due to change however, as Wireless Application Protocol and similar handsets offering Internet accessibility proliferate. Richardson predicts that some 15 percent of phones sold in 2000 will enable users to tap into the Web. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
GartnerGroup
Nokia
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
