Research firm Gartner predicts a single digit drop in growth percentage of global mobile phones sales in 2009. In the third quarter of 2008 309 million handsets were sold. For 2008 a growth of just 8% can be expected, which is significantly lower than the 17% growth in 2007.
Reasons behind this decrease in growth include lower-than-forecast sales, lack of product news and limited availability of popular devices.
According to the analysts at Gartner, the economic crisis has resulted in a fight for the third place between Sony Ericsson, Motorola and LG, with the first one coming out on top.
Although Sony Ericcson might have risen to third place, this had more to do with troubles at Motorola and LG and less with Sony Ericsson’s own strength. Market leader Nokia experienced lower replacement purchases, while Samsung had a very strong third quarter, mainly thanks to the successful Omnia.
Motorola’s marketshare dropped, with sales dropping and increasing inventories due to a very weak product portfolio. On the other hand LG's products remain well-positioned since they are more suited to the current economic climate.
