Following Motorola's earnings announcement this morning, quarterly shipment numbers from all of the world's largest handset makers have rolled in for the market to digest. And the numbers are not inspiring.
According to market research firm Strategy Analytics, the world's handset vendors shipped 245 million cell phones worldwide in the first quarter of 2009, down a "huge" 13 percent from the 282 million units those companies shipped a year ago.
"This was the fastest rate of annual decline in handset shipments since our records began (in 1984)", the firm said in a release.
Strategy Analytics said all of the top five handset vendors suffered declines. Samsung slipped only 1 percent annually, and Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola continued their significant slides. Indeed, all three companies (Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola) have announced job cuts in recent months.
Below are market share percentages from the world's top cell phone makers from the first quarter of last year to the first quarter of this year:
Further, according to Strategy Analytics, the first quarter of 2009 represented the fastest rate of decline since the firm began tracking the handset industry. Below is the firm's chart of global handset makers' annual growth:
