US Consumer Phone Sales Decline 22 Percent In Q1; BlackBerry Enters The Top Five: Report
By Tricia Duryee - Mon 19 May 2008 09:01 AM PST
The shaky economy is starting to show up in U.S. phone sales. In the first quarter, consumer phone sales reached 31 million handsets, falling 22 percent compared to the year-ago period. For the first time, the NPD Group said sales fell between the busy holiday quarter and the first quarter. Despite this, the phones being sold today are higher-end compared to the year ago period, with smartphones comprising 17 percent of all phone sales, a 10 percent increase. Two of the big features being sold are Bluetooth at 79 percent of all phones and music-playing capabilities at 60 percent. The struggling Motorola (NYSE: MOT) maintained its No. 1 position, however, its share fell to 27 percent in the period from 35 percent a year ago. Likely to Apple’s (NSDQ: AAPL) chagrin, for the first time RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) BlackBerry improved its ranking, edging out Sanyo as the fifth-largest manufacturer. Apple didn’t make the list.
Here’s the breakdown:
-- Motorola 27 percent
-- Samsung 18 percent
-- LG (SEO: 066570) 17 percent
-- Nokia (NYSE: NOK) 8 percent
-- RIM BlackBerry 5 percent
Posted in: Companies, Apple, LG, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, Gadgets, Research & Metrics
Tags: blackberry,
