Mobile sales boom - Asia-Pac take a bow

Global mobile phone sales have increased by 21.5 per cent during the third quarter of 2006 compared to the same period a year ago, hitting 251 million units.

The Asia Pacific region leads the way, with sales increasing by 54.7 per cent to 80.8 million units.

Ann Liang, Taiwan-based analyst for Gartner, who released the figures, said India, Indonesia and the Philippines are driving the Asia-Pac boom.

The leading handset maker remains Nokia, increasing its global market share to 35.1 per cent.

Motorola remains the Finnish company's closest rival, with 20.6 per cent of the market. Samsung and Sony Ericsson trail with 12.2 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively.

Cheat Sheets

♦ Mobile location-based services
♦ FMC
♦ 3G

Together, Motorola, Nokia and Samsung accounted for 68 per cent of global sales during the period. However, analysts are already predicting a shake-up in the market if rumours of an Apple iPhone prove to be true.

The only region to see a drop in mobile sales was Japan which saw a fall of 4.7 per cent.

As a result of the new data, Gartner has raised its sales forecast for mobile phones to 986 million units for 2006, with another 281 million units forecast to be sold during the fourth quarter of 2006.