Mobile sales slip, but avoid decline

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The global mobile handset market went into a tailspin over the past year, according to the latest sales figures released yesterday.

Analyst firm ABI Research said global handset sales fell sharply in October and November last year, contributing to a nearly five per cent drop in fourth-quarter sales compared to the same period last year.

But despite the late drop in sales, ABI said full-year sales figures still managed to post annual growth of seven per cent.

The analyst also predicted a tough year for mobile sales ahead, said strong demand for 3G+ handsets, smartphones and mobile broadband modems would prevent the market going into a freefall.

“Much of the brunt of the economic downturn will be experienced in the 2G categories,” said ABI Research Asia-Pacific vice president Jake Saunders.

He forecast that the number of 3G+ phones based on Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and the related CDMA2000 interface would increase from 39 per cent of total current sales to over 50 per cent in 2009.

And he said: “WCDMA handset shipments are projected to grow from 258 million in 2008 to 725 million in 2009. By 2013, more than 67 per cent of all handsets shipped will be 3G/3G+ capable.”

“Another robust segment is smartphones,” added ABI Research practice director Kevin Burden, saying that they are the most coveted pieces of ‘prosumer’ electronics on the market today.

Burden said smartphones captured 14 per cent of the 2008 market and were expected to grow throughout 2009 and comprise 31 per cent of the market by 2013.

Mobile broadband growth will see USB modems account for 80 per cent of the shipment volume next year. The research said market volume is expected to increase by more than 55 per cent in 2009 as Asian vendors push forward with low-priced modems.

“For as long as operators aggressively price and promote mobile broadband plans, mobile modems will continue to be a hot category with considerable potential in SOHO (small-office-home-office) and SMB (small-to-medium sized business) segments,” Burden concluded.

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