Smart mobile device sales getting stronger
Smartphones and PDAs have experienced a growth surge, according to analysts
Global shipments of smart mobile devices grew by 75 per cent to over 13 million units during the third quarter 2005, with Nokia taking more than half of the market, according to a report by analyst firm Canalys.
Nokia shipped 7.1million units during Q3, up from 2.9m in the same quarter last year, and grew market share by 15.1 per cent to 54.8 per cent during the same period. Motorola also increased shipments from 61,630 in Q3 last year to 693,650 and market share by 4.5 per cent to 5.3 per cent.
Canalys said Nokia’s growth was attributable to sales of its 3G Symbian Series 60-based smart phones, as well as its 6680 and 6630 models.
Q3 was marred by decreases in market share for Palm, Blackberry-maker Research In Motion (RIM) and Hewlett-Packard (HP). Rachel Lashford, an analyst at Canalys, said: “RIM is coming under increasing pressure from a number of hardware and software vendors.”
However, an IDC report claimed global shipment levels for hand-held devices actually decreased for the seventh consecutive quarter, falling by 16.9 per cent year-over-year and 8.8 per cent during Q3 to 1.6million.
Ramon Llamas, research analyst for IDC’s mobile markets programme, said: “Finding and expanding more solutions to mobile consumers and enterprises have become imperatives for the handheld market to drive growth.”
IDC found that Palm, HP and Acer took the top three positions in terms of shipment levels and market share. The latter of stood at 33.8, 23.6 and 11.2 per cent share respectively.
Keith Yaxley, director of Data2Hand, said the figures reflect a blurred market. “Nokia is doing well at the moment, but for resellers its devices tend to be more consumer-focused where there is less value-add. Other vendors’ handsets may play more into the business sector, where there are more business applications and value-add to be had,” he said.
Mark Walker, mobile data consultant at Basilica, agreed. “Mobility activity is te increasing and were seeing users consider a range of solutions of a range of devices, but the boundaries are becoming clouded,” he said.