Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end-users in the second quarter of 2007 reached 270.9 million units, a 17.4% increase from the same period last year, according to Gartner.
Although Motorola faced some ongoing difficulties with its product portfolio, the company maintained its second position worldwide by sustaining an aggressive price strategy. This resulted in better sales to end-users than sales into the channel, according to Gartner.
Gartner predicts worldwide mobile phone sales will reach 1.13 billion units in 2007.
Emerging markets in Africa, Latin America and Asia/Pacific continued to fuel the industry's growth, says Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices research at Gartner. "More mature markets, such as those in Western Europe and North America, picked up after the expected slowdown in the first quarter.
"Apple stole the limelight in the quarter, with the introduction of its iPhone in North America in the last two days of the quarter," she says.
"Nokia's devices business seems to be doing everything right at the moment," she adds. Nokia sales into the channel once again exceeded the 100 million mark in the second quarter of 2007.
Motorola suffered from weak demand from its rather dated portfolio, and its attempts to reduce stock translated into poor sales into distribution channels, says Gartner.
Samsung's sales into the channel were strong in the second quarter of 2007.
Sony Ericsson's continued success in the second quarter of 2007 saw it consolidate its fourth place, with sales reaching 24.3 million units.
LG sold 18.4 million units in the second quarter of 2007 and reached a market share of 6.8%.
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