Strong Demand for Cell Phones is on the Increase

It seems that none of the crises the world faces have managed to stop the increasing demand for cell phones. According to this BBC report, 282 million handsets were shipped worldwide in the first 3 months of 2008, up 14% from a year ago. The cited source predicts that 290 million handsets will be sold in the second quarter of this year, up 12% from the same period a year earlier. Much of this growth is related to the eye-catching demand in emerging markets, particularly in Africa and Asia.

The nice point, however, is that Nokia has managed to maintain its lead while the competitors have been struggling with market share losses. The following stats support my claim.

Handset market share in Q1 2008

• Nokia 40.9%,
• Samsung 16.4%,
• Motorola 9.7%,
• LG Electronics 8.6%,
• Sony Ericsson 7.9%,
• Others 16.4%.

Nokia’s dominance is, I believe, owing to the fact that its fabulous handset portfolio satisfies all users all over the world. Also, Nokia’s provision of handset-related services such as GPS positioning via Nokia maps, Comes with music, the music store, Ovi services and n-Gage entertainment will contribute to this trend in the future.