Handset vendors shipped 42 million units to Western Europe in second quarter of 2009, down 6%, compared to the same period last year, according to IDC European mobile phone tracker.
The second quarter results are an improvement on the 14% decrease in first quarter of 2009, but the research firm stresses that the crisis will continue to impact the region.
The study shows that the traditional mobile phone to converged mobile devices continued to be a major trend in Western Europe. Traditional mobile phones declined by 12% during the quarter to 33.2 million units while smartphones increased 25% to 8.8 million units during the quarter, compared to the same period last year.
Francisco Jeronimo, research manager of European mobile devices at IDC, said: The first six months of the year were very challenging to both vendors and operators in Western Europe. The market was hit hard by the financial crisis, and demand mobile for phones slumped as never experienced before.
Since 2Q08 the market has been suffering from negative growth, with the bottom line being hit in 1Q09. Despite the slight improvement in the second quarter of 2009, we will continue to see negative growth throughout the coming quarters, with full market recovery being seen only in 2011.
According to IDC, Samsung and LG together shipped more devices to Western Europe than Nokia. Nokia retained the top spot with 36.3% market share and Samsung stood second with a market share of 28.9%. Sony Ericsson stood third with 12% market share, while LG continues to challenge Sony Ericsson’s market position, and the success of its touch screen handsets allowed it to gain 11% market share, the highest ever in Western Europe.
IDC said that it expects the Western European market to decline by 10% for the full year. However, the demand for smartphones is expected to grow, but will not be able to reverse the overall market decline as they represent only 21% of the total shipments.
On the other hand, the traditional mobile phones will continue to decline, though at a lower rate, as vendors could bring in more features to the low-end devices, the firm said.
