Weaker sales in emerging markets are said to be main cause of the slowdown.

Strategy Analytics (London) also suggests that Apple overtook RIM for the first time, to take sixth position globally, and that Sony Ericsson jumped from 5th to third. However, Nokia continues to dominate shipments, with 117.8 million units, representing a 38.9 percent share of the market in Q3.

Strategy Analytics forecasts 345 million units will be sold globally in Q4 2008, up 5 percent from Q4 2007. "

"We expect lackluster shipments in developed regions during the Holiday Season to be accompanied by less buoyant demand in select emerging markets suffering from weaker consumer sentiment. We predict 1.23 billion units for the full-year 2008, up 9 percent from 2007", said Neil Mawston director of the Global Wireless Practice at Strategy Analytics.

He adds that after a solid first half of the year, demand has slowed suddenly in emerging markets due to weaker consumer sentiment and concerns about the economic outlook. Nokia, Samsung and LG all reported sluggish sales in major developing regions such as China, India, Russia and South America.

But Mawston maintains growth for handset vendors is still available, "provided they have the right products for the right segments, as demonstrated neatly by Apple, up 516 percent year-on-year, and Samsung, up 22 percent on 2007."

Four of the top 6 vendors are said to have grown at 5 percent annually or less. Apple was the star performer, grabbing a 2 percent global share. Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG were below par, while Apple and Samsung outperformed.

By: DocMemory
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