Maturing mobile phone market growth to slow

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Gartner said the economic slowdown in the United States and Western Europe would have little impact on the handset industry as good demand in emerging markets is driving growth.

"People there buy the phone because they need it, not because they think it's fashionable," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. "We don't think this industry will really be impacted by recession."

All handset vendors combined sold 330.1 million mobile phones in the October-December quarter, with strong demand in emerging markets in India and China lifting sales 16.1 percent from a year ago, Gartner said.

Growth was at 16 percent also for the full-year, it said.

The main gainer from surging sales in emerging markets was the world's largest maker Nokia, whose market share rose to 40.4 percent in the fourth quarter from 36.2 percent in the same quarter the previous year, Gartner said.

The Finnish company has a strong lead in emerging markets.

South Korea's Samsung surpassed Motorola and had 13.4 percent of the market in the quarter, compared with 11.9 percent for the struggling U.S. company, Gartner said.

Sony Ericsson increased its market share to 9 percent, while LG Electronics stood at 7.1 percent.

Nokia continued to benefit from demand for ultra-cheap phones in the quarter, but it reported superior profit margins.

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