Global smart device sales rocket

Global smart device sales rocket


Nearly 19 million units shipped in Q2

The global smart mobile devices market mushroomed in the second quarter of 2006, chalking up 55 per cent year-on-year growth, according to a report by analyst firm Canalys.

Smart mobile devices include hand-helds, wireless hand-helds and smart phones, with nearly 19 million units shipped in the quarter, compared with just over 12 million in the same quarter of 2005.

Nokia remained the leading supplier with a 47.7 per cent market share. The vendor achieved nine million shipments in the quarter compared to 6.6 million in the second quarter of 2005. Motorola followed in second place with an 8.4 per cent share.

Nick Spencer, analyst at Canalys, said: “Generally the smart mobile devices market has seen good growth. There have been more sales into the channel which is prepared for a big third quarter.

“Nokia is driving this growth, but Motorola and other vendors are also getting their portfolios together.”

Spencer said Motorola had a strong quarter, shipping over 1.5 million devices, but the vendor’s EMEA performance was not particularity strong.

“Nokia posted 35 per cent year-on-year growth in the quarter and I expect its shipments will pick up further in the fourth quarter,” he added.

“There is increasing channel interest in smart mobile devices, with new enterprise class devices being launched in the past few months. Resellers and the channel are heavily interested in this area.”

Pierre Lams, co-founder of VAR Handheld PCs, said: “A lot of the shipped devices will be pocket PCs and one of the main aspect is fueling this adoption is push email.”

Lams said some firms are getting more functionality with smart devices and looking to replace laptops with mobile devices. Lams added that he expects this trend to continue.

“Nokia has just released its new E-Series and despite Motorola’s smart phone range having a strong quarter I expect Nokia to surge ahead over the next couple of quarters. Our customer base is certainly adopting the Nokia E-Series.”

Lams said he expects the next couple of quarters to see more market growth and increased adoption of smart phones and PDAs.