The trends may also be bad news for Palm, which is banking a turnaround on its Pre smartphone and its advanced WebOS software — both of which are already receiving early praise from observers. The phone is expects hit stores in the first half of the year.
«Palm will certainly have to work hard to grow revenues this year,» Mawston said, adding that both consumers and businesses will be buying fewer handsets in 2009.
«The opportunity for Palm lies in its ability to gain share in the smartphone market, which is still growing at an above-average rate,» he said.
The winners: Samsung, LG and Apple
Yet the industry does have its success stories. Samsung, which is No. 2 in global sales, claimed 18 percent of the phone market during the quarter on sales of 53 million handsets. In the same quarter a year earlier, the company shipped 46 million units and accounted for only 14.1 of the market.
The report cited Samsung's broad handset portfolio and distribution channels as key reasons for its growth.
LG Electronics, in third place, shipped 26 million handsets for the quarter, ending December with 9 percent of the market, thanks to robust sales in Europe. For the first time in its history, LG also sold more than 100 million units during the course of the year.
However, Strategy Analytics said that LG's operating margins were at their lowest levels since mid-2006.
Still, the strong quarter pushed LG ahead of Sony Ericsson, which fell to fourth place in the rankings. Sony Ericsson sold 24.2 million handsets for the fourth quarter of 2008, a year-to-year drop of 21 percent. During the quarter, the company also recorded its lowest profits since 2003, according to Strategy Analytics.
Handset makers are also still coping with the runaway success of Apple's iPhone, which continues selling briskly despite the economic downturn.
Yet even Apple's smartphone will be facing some challenges as well, according to Strategy Analytics.
During fourth quarter, Apple saw robust sales growth of 88 percent compared to the same period a year ago. But it shipped a lower-than-expected 4.4 million handsets during the quarter, compared to the 2.3 million units it sold during the fourth quarter of 2007.
«Apple continues to grow at an above-average pace, but the U.S. firm is not immune to the wider recession affecting the global economy and mobile device industry,» Strategy Analytics said in a statement, adding that Apple would eventually need to broaden its lineup of iPhones to maintain its surging growth.
«The U.S. and global smartphone markets are slowing down,» Welsh de Grimaldo said. «No segment will come out of this recession untouched, but smartphones are continuing to grow at an above-average pace and that represents an opportunity for vendors like Apple and Palm to gain share in the downturn.»
Ключевые слова: carriers, mobility, smartphones, Verizon, wireless
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