IDC: 3Q Cell phone shipments suffered from economy

Research firm IDC says that global cell phone shipments fell in the third quarter in the face of worsening macroeconomic conditions.  Mobile phone makers shipped 299 million handsets in third quarter, up 3.2 percent from last year and down 0.4 percent from the second quarter of this year. IDC said that historically the third quarter has been a ramp-up quarter as manufacturers load their sales channels with handsets in preparation for the fourth quarter holiday buying season. This year, that ramp up is small, which IDC says is because of the economy.

According to IDC, Nokia remained the top handset maker, with 39.4 percent market share, followed by Samsung at 17.3 percent, Sony Ericsson at 8.6 percent and Motorola at 8.5 percent market share.

For more:
- see this press release

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