Worldwide shipment of mobile phone units will reach 595 million by 2004 says a new report from global market intelligence group, IDC. According to the Worldwide Mobile Phone 2004-2008 Forecast And Analysis report, sales of 2.5G mobile phones will drive market growth for the next few years with sales of 3G mobile phones finally passing the 100 million annual unit shipment target by 2007.
Senior analyst, Alex Slawsby said: “A compelling case for 3G adoption by consumers has yet to be made. Simply put, there are very few reasons to drive the vast majority of consumers to buy a new 3G mobile phone. As a result we expect converged mobile devices, as well as 2.5G colour screen and camera phones to be the core of the overall market for several years.”
This year, the mobile phone market achieved worldwide growth of nearly 30%, to achieve shipment of 152.7 million units, despite a blip in the first quarter of 2004, when units shipped fell by 5.9% says IDC. Smartphones also saw a decrease in quarter one, when shipments fell by 5.5%, but year-on-year growth achieved a massive 85.8% increase.
IDC’s mobile devices analyst, David Linsalata said: “Despite the anticipated seasonal effects of the post-holiday first quarter, worldwide manufacturers were able to produce significant year-on-year growth on the strength of mid-range handsets featuring colour screens and cameras.”
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