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Jan. 25, 2007

According to survey firm IDC, record-setting sales in the 4th quarter catapulted worldwide mobile phone sales over the 1-billion mark.

It took about twenty-three years since the first cell phone was sold.

However, global shipments of mobile phones were above 1.019 billion handsets last year, setting a new record in overall sales.

Such strong numbers represent an increase in sales of 22.5 percent over the 832.8 million cell phones sold two years ago.

Helping push the numbers higher was a strong fourth quarter, which saw phone vendors ship 294.9 million units, up 19.7 percent over 2005. Overall, the numbers also set a record for a single quarter.

Nokia helped increase numbers with 106 million handsets sold, keeping it in the No. 1 spot by a wide margin at 35.2 percent market share, when compared to second-place Motorola with 21.9 percent share.

Samsung ranked third in sales with 10.7 percent worldwide market share, though its figures were a bit lower in 2006 when compared to 2005.

"Emerging markets contributed to the high volume sales," said Ramon Llamas, research analyst in IDC's Mobile Technology and Tracking team in a statement."

"It was not long ago that shipments into mature markets, including Japan, North America and Western Europe, consumed the majority of devices shipped worldwide."

He added "more recently, however, device shipments into emerging economies in Asia/Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America have surpassed shipments to mature markets, and the difference between the two continues to grow."

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Source: Wireless Week