Following two consecutive quarters of steady growth, the worldwide mobile phone market jumped during the fourth quarter to its highest level ever. According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, worldwide mobile phone shipments totaled 194.3 million units in 4Q04, growing 18.1% sequentially and 24% year over year. For the full year 2004, worldwide mobile phone shipments increased 29.3% over 2003.

The fourth quarter marked Nokia's second consecutive quarter with market share above 30%. The Finnish company strengthened its product line-up with devices aimed at entry level, business, and fashion conscious users. As a result of its efforts, Nokia firmly maintained its spot as top vendor in the industry. The companies in the next four spots saw increased activity as well. Motorola reached record level shipments, claimed 16.4% of the market, and distanced itself from Samsung by more than ten million units. Third place Samsung, after spending most of 2004 steadily closing the gap against Motorola, saw its shipments decrease to levels it had not seen since the start of 2004, but managed to retain 10.9% of the market. Finally, LG Electronics climbed another notch to supplant Siemens for the number 4 spot and 7.2% market share, but only 0.3% separated the two companies.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide Mobile Phone Shipments and Market Share,

2004 (Preliminary)
Rank           Vendor           2004 Shipments    2004 Market Share
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  1      Nokia                    207,600,000            31.2%
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  2      Motorola                 104,500,000            15.7%
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  3      Samsung                   86,500,000            13.0%
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  4      Siemens                   49,400,000             7.4%
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  5      LG Electronics            44,400,000             6.7%
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         Other                    172,000,000            25.9%
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         Total                    664,500,000           100.0%
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Notes: Vendor shipments are branded shipments and exclude OEM sales for all vendors.

The IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker provides device vendors, software developers, service providers, and component suppliers with timely and accurate information on the worldwide handset market. The program provides quarterly measurements of worldwide mobile phone and converged mobile device unit shipments and vendor market shares.