Nokia Expects 2008 Replacement Sales To Increase Market Share; Asian Pacific Sales Offset Declines

A mixed bag for Nokia (NYSE: NOK). Just a day after Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) warned that sales of mobile handsets were slowing, and a week after Texas Instruments said it expected sales of 3G chips to fall, Nokia said in a regulatory document filed with the US government that it expected the replacement handset market to help boost its total market share in 2008, according to Reuters. The mobile device maker predicted that replacement sales would make up more than 70 percent of volume in 2008, slightly up from last year's figure of just under 70 percent. Features like color screens, cameras, music players, faster data connections, e-mail and navigation capability would help drive the market, it said.

Meanwhile, the world's dominant mobile handset maker by market share said that growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, North America and Latin America had fallen in 2007. According to Reuters, in Europe sales were down 3 percent in 2007, compared to a rise of 16 percent in 2006. Middle East & Africa growth slowed to 19 percent in the year from 68 percent the year before. In North America, sales fell 6 percent from 13 percent, while Latin America sales fell to 10 percent from 15 percent.

Nokia said, however, that the losses in these regions had been offset by its growing presence in China and in Asia Pacific countries, where sales were up 34 percent in 2007, compared to 27 percent in 2006. China was especially good to them, with phone sales increasing 34 percent in 2007, up from 29 percent in 2006.

Related

Sony Ericsson Warns First Quarter Profits May Fall; Blames Slowing Sales Of High End Handsets