Just 0.67 decline in the global sales of mobiles: Gartner

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In the latest prediction for the mobile market, market research firm Gartner said that global sales of mobile devices are expected to remain flat at 121 crore units in 2009. Earlier, the firm said that the sale will
go down to 3.7 percent. Gartner also said handset sales will grow by 9 percent in 2010.

Strong sales in Western Europe and acceleration in the grey market during the third quarter of this year are attributed for the not so bad market condition. However, there is a decline of 0.67 percent from that in 2008.

According to Gartner Research Director Carolina Milanesi, although the grey market or ‘white label’ is not a new phenomenon and has been generated by Chinese device makers who do not have a licence to sell and manufacture devices without a valid international mobile equipment identity, today grey- market sales are no longer limited to China and among all this Nokia will be the biggest sufferer of this grey market.

14 percent of total mobile devices sales in 2009 will be represented by smartphones. Milanesi also feel that it is useless to expect more than 20 percent growth, as mature markets are saturated and most growth will come from emerging markets.