Gartner: Nokia's Global Share Rises to 31.9%

According to Gartner, Nokia's global market share grew to 31.9 percent in Q2 2005 from 29.6 percent last year due to strength in the Latin America and U.S. markets, Forbes.com reports.

Hugues de la Vergne at Gartner said, "Nokia regained its top position in Latin America and stepped up to the third position in North America, benefiting from its successful launch of its Virgin Mobile [handset] which helped its lagging CDMA sales."

Mobile phone sales rose to "an all-time high of 190.5 mln units, a 21.6 pct increase from the same period last year," with the other top two handset manufacturers increasing global market share as well - Motorola to 17.9 percent and Samsung to 12.8 percent.

Gartner credited the uptick in sales as "driven primarily by sales of phones as replacements for older models and, to a lesser extent, by first-time buyers," in the mature Western Europe and North American markets.

Carolina Milanesi at Gartner added, "In the emerging markets, growth was boosted by an uptake in new connections as consumers took advantage of falling average selling prices of mobile phones."