Mobile Phone Market To Decline Says Nokia

Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone company, has warned that the global mobile phone market is set to decline for the first time.

The mobile company, which was releasing its first quarter results, said that it expects the number of phones sold to increase by 10% from the 1.1 billion phones sold last year.

However, it added that the overall value of the market would be lower than in 2007 because of the weak dollar and economic slowdown in the US and Europe.

Nokia, which makes roughly two out of every five mobiles sold globally, expects the average price of mobiles to decrease this year because of strong competition in mature markets.

In February, Understanding & Solutions forecast that by 2010, annual mobile handset shipments will have increased by almost 25%, reaching a figure in excess of 1.4 billion units worldwide.

Recent research from M:Metrics found that mobile advertising is an ideal method for reaching young men, as among mobile phone users, 36% of 18 to 34-year-old men accessed mobile media in February.

Men in this age group are also highly receptive to SMS advertising, with 9% responding to an SMS advert they received, versus a 4% market average, said M:Metrics.

Nokia: www.nokia.com