Global cellphone outlook for 2009 looks grim
Research firm Gartner released a report on the global outlook of mobile phones for the year 2009 and predicted that cell phones growth rate in the Asia-Pacific region, including India and China, may come to a halt.

Wall Street Journal reported that Gartner is expecting a low-single-digit growth contraction from 2008 levels. In the third quarter of 2008, about 309 million mobile phones were sold world-wide, a 6% increase from a year earlier, but a significant decline from the 16% year-to-year growth seen in the third quarter of 2007. Replacement sales were hit especially hard, while first-time users remained active, the research firm added.
Nokia kept the lead with 118 million handsets or a 38.2% share, Samsung sales were around 53 million or a 17.1% market share whereas Sony Ericcson came third with 24.8 million handsets sale and a market share of 8.1%.
Pakistan, being an essential part of Asia Pacific, is also seeing a downfall in the sales of handsets. The economical quagmire has barred a common man from changing mobile handsets every couple of months – a trait very much prevalent as recently as six months back. The upper crust of society is taking interest in iPhone and other smart phones but as they constitute only a smaller portion of total sales so this doesn’t add up in the final stats.
On another note, Nokia still remains number one in Pakistan and a recent survey put Nokia at holding 48% of the market share. Samsung and LG are also catching up here – given their affordability but we can expect some serious slump in the mobile market. That’s good for many buyers though, if prices go down, they can buy their favorite sets.

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