18 million cell phones sold in India in 2003
By Our Infotech Bureau | 09 Feb 2004
Chennai:
18 million cell phones were sold in India in 2003. According
to a report by Gartner, sales in the emerging markets
— China, India, Russia and Brazil, continued to surpass
expectations, mainly due to the availability of low-priced
handsets, and also aggressive strategies by service providers
to win subscribers. The report also predicts that the
emerging markets will play an increasingly important role
in 2004 and expects cell phone manufacturers to develop
low cost instruments for these markets.
According
to Gartner's early estimates, the worldwide mobile handset
market, too, continued to beat expectations and could
exceed 510 million units in 2003. The estimate is based
on manufacturers' shipments in the fourth quarter of 2003.
"2003
was a phenomenal year for the mobile phone industry, with
an average growth rate of nearly 20 percent," said
Ben Wood, principal analyst with the mobile communications
group for Gartner in Europe.
Gartner
said sales exceeded expectations around the world. The
mature markets, including the United States, Western Europe
and Japan, saw a surge in replacement sales. In Japan,
wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) and CDMA2000
phones sold particularly well, especially those featuring
built-in cameras.
"In
mature markets, replacement sales were the strongest driver
of growth in 2003", said Wood. "Colour screens
and camera phones were high on consumers' shopping lists,
but there was also a high level of demand for inexpensive
voice centric handsets."
The
Gartner study also revealed that early indicators during
the first quarter of 2004 show that the positive trend
in the mobile handset
market is continuing. Based on preliminary forecasts,
Gartner said it was provisionally raising its forecast
for mobile phone sales to 560 million in 2004.