Worldwide mobile sales up but Western Europe is down

Researchers at Gartner say that mobile phone sales were up 13.6% in the first quarter of 2008, although figures in Western Europe were down - which is the first time this has happened since Gartner began tracking in 2001. Worldwide sales reached 294.3 million handsets in Q1 2008, although quarterly sales of mobile phones in Western Europe were down 16.4% year-on-year. Nokia's market share slipped slightly to 39.1%, Samsung held on to the number 2 position with 14.4%, while Motorola's share slipped to 10.2%, keeping it in third place. [Press release]