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Nokia and Samsung expand market at Motorola's expense

Nokia and Samsung, the world's two biggest makers of mobile phones, took additional market share from Motorola Inc in the fourth quarter, a survey showed.

Nokia Oyj increased fourth-quarter market share by unit sales to 40.4 percent from 36.2 percent a year earlier, according to a report by Stamford, Connecticut-based researcher Gartner Inc.

Samsung Electronics Co increased its share to 13.4 percent from 11.3 percent, and Motorola fell to 11.9 percent from 21.5 percent, it said.

Nokia, whose product range covers phones costing less than US$50 to models with e-mail and satellite navigation features, achieved over 40 percent market share for the first time.

Samsung kept its second place with its slim Ultra handsets, while Motorola continued to suffer from its failure to introduce a successful replacement for the Razr. Growth may slow this year as markets in western Europe and Japan become more saturated, Gartner said.

"The global mobile devices market will remain relatively immune to a recession in the US and western European economies as the majority of growth will come from emerging markets," Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner, said in a statement.

Gartner predicted global sales growth would slow to about 10 percent this year after gaining 16 percent to 1.15 billion units last year. Sales rose 16 percent to 330 million units in the fourth quarter, led by India and China, as well as eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Nokia benefited from demand in emerging markets, while its multimedia models -- N73, N82 and the flagship N95 device, its single-biggest profit contributor -- boosted sales in Europe. North America was the only region where the Finnish company lost market share, Gartner said.

Nokia needs to improve its portfolio this year by offering better user interfaces and "novel" designs, Milanesi said.

Samsung should diversify its offering more with forms and colors, the analyst said.

Sony Ericsson kept its share at 9 percent from a year earlier. The London-based joint venture between Japan's Sony Corp and Ericsson AB of Sweden aims to dethrone Motorola from its third spot. In the quarter, Sony Ericsson started to sell the K850 handset with a 5-megapixel camera and the W910 Walkman device, which can store as many as 1,000 songs.

LG Electronics Inc, which makes the Prada and Viewty touch-screen handsets, had 7.1 percent of the market, up from 6.3 percent a year earlier.
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