Sony Ericsson slipped to No.5

Sony Ericsson slipped to fifth place in global mobile phone market share during the first-quarter, overtaken by Korean vendor LG. Sony Ericsson sold 22.1 million units in the quarter for a 7.5 percent market share, behind LG's total sales of 23.6 million units and 8 percent share according to Research Firm Gartner.

Sony Ericsson's fall follows previous warnings from the vendor that it was experiencing weakened demand in the European mid-to-high-end device market. Only three months ago, at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in February, Sony Ericsson reiterated its intention to become the third largest handset vendor by 2011.

Finnish vendor Nokia continued its dominance in the first-quarter, growing its market share to 39.1 percent on sales of 115.2 million units, up from 35.5 percent share in the same period last year. Samsung was in second position, increasing its share from 12.4 percent to 14.4 percent on sales of 42.4 million units, whilst Motorola's troubles continued. The US vendor saw a sharp drop in the quarter, selling 29.9 million units to give it a market share of 10.2 percent, compared to 18.4 percent last year.

Gartner forecasts worldwide mobile phone sales to continue to rise between 10 and 15 percent in 2008, fuelled by growth in emerging markets, but warned that the value of the market will be lower than expected. The West European mobile phone sales fell 16.4 percent in the first-quarter compared with the year-earlier period, the first fall in the region since Gartner began tracking device sales in 2001. Worldwide sales reached 294.3 million units in the first quarter, a 13.6 percent increase from sales last year.