World mobile phone market grew 19.8% in Q1 2011

PanARMENIAN.Net - The worldwide mobile phone market grew 19.8% year over year in the first quarter of 2011 (1Q11) fueled by high smartphone growth, especially in emerging markets, and gains made by market challengers, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker.

Vendors shipped 371.8 million units in 1Q11 compared to 310.5 million units in the first quarter of 2010.

Smartphone growth worldwide, particularly in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America, helped lift the overall market to a new first-quarter high. Increasingly, mobile phone makers and carriers are making smartphones affordable to a wider variety of people, which has helped drive the market to new heights. Smartphone-specific vendors, such as HTC, continue to grow sales at a steady clip as a result of this trend.

In Western Europe, Android-based phones and iPhones helped grow the market in the seasonally slow quarter. New devices from HTC, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson sold well in most countries in the high-end tiers. Alcatel, Huawei, and ZTE Android devices helped drive mid-tier segment sales volume.

In the United States last quarter, Apple's iPhone and the LTE-enabled HTC Thunderbolt were two smartphones introduced at Verizon Wireless that helped keep the category front and center of the overall mobile phone market.

Similarly, in Canada, the market grew thanks to smartphones. BlackBerry, iPhone, and Android devices were best sellers.

In Armenia, 60% of all smartphones sold by VivaCell-MTS per month are HTC smartphones, and only 40% are Nokias, among which Symbian-based C7 and N8 smartphones are the bestsellers. According to CEO of Unicomp company, clients mostly prefer smartphones running on Android operating system.