Worldwide mobile phone sales totaled 205.4 million units in the third quarter, a 22 percent increase from the same period last year, according to Gartner. This is the biggest quarter on record since Gartner started tracking the market on a quarterly basis in 2001. This combined with an expected strong fourth quarter, means Gartner has increased its worldwide mobile handset sales forecasts to reach 810 million units in 2005. In Q3, Nokia delivered another solid performance at a worldwide level with Western Europe and Asia Pacific making up for North America and Latin America, where sales were weaker. In total Nokia sold 66.95 million devices, compared with 52.22 million in Q3 2004. Number two Motorola increased the sales from 22.64 million to 38.50 million year-on-year, corresponding to a 18.6 percent market share, while Samsung saw its market share drop from 13.7 percent to 12.5 percent, despite more handset sales amounting to 25.67 million. Sony Ericsson is fourth with 13.75 million sold handsets followed by LG with 13.39 million. Siemens has dropped to number six with 4.6 percent market share and less then 10 million mobile phones sold, compared to 7.6 percent in Q3 2004 with more than 12.5 million units sold.
