Worldwide mobile phone unit sales reached 93.8 million units in the first quarter of 2002, a 3.8 percent decline from the first quarter of 2001, according to research company Gartner Dataquest. The company published the figures of the five biggest handset makers. Market-leader Nokia experienced a slight decline in global sales to end-users compared to the same quarter last year. It sold 32.5 million units, which means 1 million less than last year. Motorola, Samsung and Siemens came up second, third and fourth. Number five was Sony Ericsson which didn't exist in the same quarter a year ago. It sold 6 million units, the research company said. Mobile terminal consumption in several key regional markets was again disappointing in the first quarter of 2002. In particular, both Western Europe and Latin America suffered their second consecutive first-quarter fall in year-over-year sales. The Asia/Pacific region (excluding Japan) however, exceeded expectations, as sales in the first quarter increased by 8 percent versus the first quarter of 2001, and jumped by more than 12 percent sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2001.
