Gartner Reports Flat Mobile Handset Sales in 2009

The mobile handset market was no different from any other recession-touched sector of the economy, and at least one source of relative growth came from dubious gray-market handsets.

Worldwide mobile handset sales in 2009 will come in at about even with 2008 according
to a report from Gartner, which is an improvement
over earlier projections that sales would decline compared to last year.

It was only due to a surge in sales in Western Europe and an acceleration in the gray
market in the third quarter of this year that the mobile handset market was able to
overcome an earlier deficit vs. 2008. Gartner now projects worldwide mobile device sales
to end users at 1.214 billion units, a nearly flat, 0.67 percent decline from 2008.

Just three months ago Gartner projected a 3.7 percent decline for the year. For 2010,
Gartner now thinks sales will grow nine percent year over year.

As in the desktop/laptop and server businesses, the economic climate worldwide caused
customers to hold on to their mobile devices a little longer. With disposable income
squeezed, consumers extended replacement cycles in mature markets 12 to 18 months longer.
Just to show how short the lifespan is for handsets, Gartner puts the average lifespan at
18 to 24 months.

Read “Gartner Says Mobile Device Sales Flat in 2009” at internetnews.com.