Mobile phone market shrinks 12.6% year-on-year in Q4/08

According to a new IDC report, the global mobile phone market has seen an unexpected drop during the fourth quarter of last year. IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker states that a total of 289 million units were shipped in Q4 2008, which is 12.6 per cent lower than the fourth quarter of 2007, with 330.8 million units moved. At the same time, 1.18 billion units were shipped worldwide during the entire year 2008, 3.5 per cent higher compared to 1.14 billion units a year before."Q4 was the perfect storm of factors to produce this result," said Ramon Llamas, a research analyst with IDC. "A combination of weak end-user demand, currency volatility and limited credit availability prevented the market from experiencing the usual seasonal increase in shipments." Article