Cell Phones Still Ringing Off the Hook

TheStreet.com covers Gartner's Q2 handset manufactuers market share numbers and states carrier consolidation is contributing to the trend.

According to the article, "handset sales growth rate this year will be somewhere in a range between 13% to 15%, with about 750 million units shipped. That compares with the record 20% growth last year, with 630 million units sold."

Commenting on the increased global market shares of Nokia, Motorola and Samsung, Albert Lin at American Technology Research said, "As we've seen for a while now, the big get bigger."

Carrier consolidation is pushing this trend as Lin noted "large carriers increasingly choose to deal with the big proven phonemakers that offer the kind of support they need and a willingness to accept phones the telcos want to return."

He cited the Russian market, which had no established cell-phone industry as an example of how the big players always rise to the top. Within a year or two of starting, "Russia's handset market looked like the rest of the world -- and Nokia and Motorola were No. 1 and No. 2." added Lin

Lin pointed out one surprise in Gartner's second quarter numbers. "I think a lot less high-end phones were sold than people expected," said Lin