Japan’s Global Mobile Market Shrinks

Global mobile phone sales in 2005 rose 21 percent from the previous year to 816.6 million units, with Japanese manufacturers’ share shrinking from 2 to 1 percent, information technology research company Gartner Japan Ltd. said Thursday. Although Japanese-Swedish joint venture Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB’s share grew to the fifth-largest, total share by Japanese companies went down from the 2 percent level to the lower 1 percent. 

Sales grew 40 percent in Latin America, and those in China and India also grew strongly, the report said. Nokia Corp. of Finland maintained the largest share of the global mobile phone market at 32.5 percent, up from 30.7 percent in 2004.

Among Japanese companies, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co. ranked eighth and Sanyo Electric Co. 10th. Gartner said Japan failed to respond adequately to the global trend that split into low-priced, mass-produced models and those targeting niche markets. Via: TMCnet