Mobile phone market expected to slow in 2009

No surprises here. Analysts at IDC say the mobile phone industry will ship fewer handsets in 2009 than it has in 2008. They predict total mobile phone volumes will be 1.9% lower in 2009, which is the first annual downturn since 2001. [Press release]

Electronics slowdown closes Tantalum mine

Work at the world's largest tantalum mine in Australia has been suspended, with the global financial crisis and the resulting downturn in demand for consumer electronics being blamed. Tantalum is used for producing capacitors that are used in many electronic products including mobile phones, digital cameras, gaming consoles and computers. [Press release (pdf)]

Nokia says mobile industry is slowing down

Nokia says the current global economic situation means the mobile industry will ship fewer devices in the fourth quarter of 2008 than previously expected. In addition, mobile device volume will be down in 2009 compared to 2008. Nokia estimates that around 330 million mobile devices will be shipped worldwide in Q4 2008, up from the estimated 310 million produced in the third quarter of 2008 but resulting in an annual figure of 1.24 billion devices instead of the previously estimated 1.26 billion. [Press release]

Mobile phone market shows effects of global financial crisis

Research company IDC says the global financial crisis is being felt by the mobile phone industry, with sales down significantly in the third quarter of 2008. Their figures show that manufacturers shipped 299 million handsets in Q3 2008, up 3.2% from last year but down 0.4% from the previous quarter. Historically, the third quarter has seen an increase as manufacturers prepare for Christmas. Average selling prices for mobiles have also begun to drop. Nokia leads the list of mobile manufacturers with a 39.4% market share, Samsung is second with 17.3%, Sony Ericsson has moved up to third place with 8.6%, Motorola is fourth with 8.5% and LG is fifth with 7.7%. Strategy Analytics has calculated similar figures; they say 303 million cellphones were shipped worldwide in Q3 2008, up 5% year-on-year, which is the industry’s weakest growth rate since 2002. [IDC press release; Strategy Analytics report]

Hutchison Whampoa to create own phones for 3

Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa has announced the creation of a new division - INQ Mobile - that'll make phones for the company's 3G networks... and also for other operators The first device, currently known as the INQ1, will have prominent social networking features and will go on sale in the UK and Australia later this year. [Sources: WirelessWeek.com; Guardian.co.uk]

ZTE aims to be top 5 mobile manufacturer in 2010

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reports that Chinese mobile manufacturer ZTE aims to become one of the world's top five mobile phone producers within the next three years. The company, which is currently the world's 6th largest mobile producer, says it'll increase handset production by 60% next year to reach 80 million units - and wants to produce 100 million units per year by 2010. [Source: SCMP.com]

Mobiles aren't designed for the right people

Most mobile phones are designed for western adult men aged 20 to 64, which means over two-thirds of the world's population aren't being catered for. That's the opinion of researchers at Gartner, who say mobile manufacturers should pay more attention to the remaining 68% of the world. They say mobile products need to evolve and address gender diversity and demographics. [Press release]

Nokia agrees compensation for German workers

Nokia has agreed a 200 million Euro compensation package for the 2,300 workers who'll lose their jobs when Nokia closes its manufacturing plant in Germany. The company was criticised by many people in Germany when it announced the closure of its Bochum facility earlier this year and its plans to move manufacturing to a cheaper European location. Around 300 staff are expected to be re-employed within Nokia's other German sites. [Nokia press release]

One in three handsets to be a smartphone by 2013

Researchers at ABI Research say the smart phone market will treble from 10% of mobile phone purchases in 2007 to 31% in 2013. A new report from ABI explains the predicted growth by pointing to the networks' drive to increase data revenue and the trend among manufacturers to equip more phones with 'smart' operating systems. [Press release]

Sony Ericsson warns that sales are slowing

Sony Ericsson says "moderating sales growth of mobile phone units is expected to negatively impact net sales and net income before tax for the first quarter of 2008." In particular, it's selling fewer mid-to-high end phones and has suffered component shortages for some mid-priced phones. Sales for the first quarter of 2008 are expected to be lower than those in 2007, although the company says it still aims to be one of the world's top three manufacturers by 2011. Its first quarterly report for 2008 will be published in April. [Source: press release]

Mitsubishi to leave mobile phone industry

Mitsubishi Electric has said it'll stop developing and producing mobile phones due to declining market profitability in Japan - after 25 years of handset manufacturing. The company currently provides handsets to Japan's NTT DoCoMo. [PDF press release]

Worldwide mobile sales up 16% in 2007

Research company Gartner says worldwide sales of mobile phones to end-users exceeded 1.15 billion units in 2007, a 16% per cent increase from 2006. People in emerging markets buying their first phone, particularly in China and India, provided much of the growth. Sales in 2008 are expected to continue increasing but at a reduced rate of 10%. Nokia ended 2007 as the leading global manufacturer, achieving 40% of sales in Q4 and 37.8% for the entire year. [Press release]

New mobile manufacturer launches in UK

UK-based Onyx has launched the Liscio mobile phone, a compact and lightweight music-playing handset that's available SIM-free directly from the manufacturer for £129.99. [Press release]

Smart phone shipments up 53% last year

New market data from analyst firm Canalys shows that 118 million 'smart phones' were shipped worldwide in 2007, up 53% on 2006. 67% of all devices used the Symbian operating system, followed by Microsoft with 13% and RIM (BlackBerry) on 10%. Nokia and RIM retained their number one (52.9%) and number two (11.4%) manufacturer positions from 2006, with Apple moving in to third place - despite its limited geographic coverage - with a 6.5% market share, putting it fractionally ahead of Motorola. [Press release]

Specify your own mobile phone

The curiously-named zzzPhone.com has just launched, offering individually-built customised mobile phones that are created by an American company with assembly plants in China. They claim to provide unlocked, tri-band phones at factory-direct low prices yet with more features than the Nokia N95 and Apple iPhone. Apparently the three 'z's in zzzPhone represent the Chinese characters for 'personal', 'exclusive', and 'expert': ZiJi de, Zhuan You de and Zhuan jia de.

Germany wants Nokia subsidies back

Nokia's plans to close its German manufacturing plant have prompted the state of North-Rhine Westphalia to ask for €41.3 million (£30.8 million) in corporate subsidies from 1999 to be returned. Nokia says it is "astonished" and describes the claim as "without merit". [Nokia press release]

China makes over 40% of the world’s mobiles

A report in PC World magazine – quoting China’s official press agency – says China’s 38 mobile phone manufacturers have produced around 500 million mobile phones this year, which is over 40% of the total number of handsets manufactured worldwide. Around 80% of the phones were exported.