Samsung looking to expand lead in Europe

Reutersreports that Samsung "aims to become the clear No. 2 cell phone vendor in Europe in 2006," after "introducing three new models including a thinner successor of its fast-selling D600 slider model."

The company is currently battling with Motorola for the number two spot in Europe. Samsung competes for the No. 2 spot in Europe with U.S.-based Motorola. In 2005, Samsung was second, but is facing seriously competition from the sucess of Moto's Razr.

According to various analysts, Samsung's "European market share was between 14 and 15 percent in 2005, above its global 12.1 percent market share."

At CeBIT, the company launched the D870, "successor of its D600 black slider phone, which was one of the top two sellers in the European market in 2005 alongside Motorola's RAZR phone."

Ben Wood at Gartner said, "The D600 has been a staggering product for Samsung. But that market segment is getting more crowded now with lots of phones with similar features."

The company also "unveiled two expensive new handsets, one with a high resolution 10 megapixel digital camera with optical zoom and another with a hard drive that can store thousands of songs on an 8 gigabyte hard disk."