During the Q4, mobile handset sales increased for the first time all year indicating the recession may be over for the stressed industry
By Gabe Perna
The news is good for the mobile handset industry. After suffering through a tumultuous year of downward sales trends, the industry saw an upward swing. According to the research firm ABI research, the industry sold 336.5 million handsets in the fourth quarter of 2009 which was up 15 percent from the fourth quarter in 2008.
“Obama’s stimulus package certainly helped save the mobile handset industry. Renewed consumer confidence in the second half of 2009 meant that shipments for the whole year only shrank 4.5% to 1.153 billion. Dire scenarios were mooted in early 2009. There is cautious optimism about 2010 despite the fragile nature of the global recovery. ABI Research forecasts shipments to expand to 1.2 billion handsets in 2010,” says Jake Saunders, Vice-President for Forecasting at ABI Research.
The growth was the first the industry has seen since the third quarter of 2008. Leading the way, despite a weakened market share was Nokia, which maintained 37.7 percent of the industry. In second was Samsung, between June 2008 and December 2009, the Japanese company increased its market share from 15.2 percent to 20.5 percent.
LG came in third place with 10.1 percent, using the S-class Smartphone series to help it secure a bridgehead on the market. Sony-Ericcson and Motorola trailed in fourth and fifth place respectively. Meanwhile, 23.6 percent of the mobile handset industry was represented by a host of other companies.
For complete data, see the study here