Smartphone Sales Growth Strong

Worldwide cell phone sales fell in the first quarter of this year, but smartphones continued to grow, despite a deepening recession, according to a report published by Gartner Wednesday.

Cell phone manufacturers, such as Nokia, had reported disastrous earnings for the first quarter. But the growth in smartphone sales, which were up 12.7 percent compared to the first quarter of 2008, provides some hope for the industry.

Touchscreen devices seem to be leading the pack in terms of device growth, with Apple's iPhone 3G doubling its market share in the first quarter compared to the first quarter last year. Apple shipped 3.9 million iPhones for a market share of 10.8 percent.

In terms of the overall cell phone market, manufacturers sold about 269 million cell phones, which was about 14.5 percent fewer than were sold during the fourth quarter of 2008 and about 9.4 percent lower compared to the same quarter last year.

Nokia continued in the lead with about 36 percent of the market, a 3 percent dip from the same quarter last year. Samsung's sales grew and it is now the second largest cell phone maker with 19.1 percent of the market. This is up from 14.4 percent during the first quarter last year. LG, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson make up the rest of the top five cell phone makers.

(May 21, 2009)