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New Features Boost Cell-Phone Sales

Posted on: Thursday, 31 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

The growing popularity of camera-equipped cell phones boosted worldwide shipments of mobile handsets by more than 19 percent in the second quarter of 2003, according to market research released Thursday.

Mobile phone shipments increased to 118.3 million units from 99.3 million units in the year-ago quarter, according to research firm IDC.

Shipments of so-called smartphones that handle data as well as voice transmissions also expanded to represent 1.7 percent of the total mobile phone market, compared to only 0.5 percent the same quarter a year ago.

"After remarkable success in Japan, camera phones are attracting worldwide interest," said Ross Sealfon, IDC analyst of mobile devices. "And coupled with color displays and subsidized pricing, the overall mobile phone market is seeing significant growth in 2003."

Nearly one-third of all phones shipped in the quarter by top vendor Nokia Corp. had color screens, cameras or multimedia capabilities, Sealfon said.

Claiming 34.6 percent of the global market share, the Finland-based company shipped 40.9 million units in the quarter. That's more than double its closest competitor, Motorola Inc., which shipped 15.8 million units and saw its market share dip to 13.4 percent from 17.4 percent a year ago.

Nokia and Motorola were followed by Samsung Electronics Co. with 10.1 percent and Siemens AG with 6.8 percent. With a 5.7 percent share, Sony Ericsson again replaced LG Electronics as the world's fifth largest handset vendor.

Nokia also led in the smartphone category, followed by Sony Ericsson, Motorola, then RIM and Kyocera, both of which pushed Samsung and Handspring out of the top-five vendor list.

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