Some 412 million mobile phones were sold worldwide in 2000, a 45.5 percent rise over the previous year, market research group Dataquest said today.
But the report by Dataquest, a unit of Gartner Group, said sales began to cool toward the end of the year, and it warned that firms are having a difficult time making profits.
"Persistent rumors of a market slowdown that dogged the industry throughout the year started to prove true toward the end of 2000," said Bryan Prohm, senior analyst for Dataquest.
There is "some significant stock carry-over to the beginning of 2001, meaning the number of total shipments in 2000 was about six million units lower than previous estimates," Prohm said.
Nokia strengthened its lead as the leading vendor in the market during 2000 with shipments growing 66 percent, giving it a 30 percent share of the market. Motorola was second, with a 14.6 percent share, followed by Ericsson, at 10 percent.
AFP