Global Mobile Phone Market Continues Strong Growth

The worldwide mobile phone market showed continued strength, according to a report.

Global mobile phone total shipments hit 226.7 million units in the first quarter of 2006, representing 26.0% growth over the same quarter in 2005, according to market research company IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Although the market experienced a sequential decline of 7.3% when compared to the record fourth quarter of 2005, much of this was due to expected seasonality, the report said.

"The year-over-year increase indicates that consumer demand in mature markets is still high enough to drive replacement handset purchases. At the same time, continued growth in developing markets around the world is being fuelled by both new subscriptions and replacement purchases," said Ramon Llamas, research analyst for IDC's Mobile Markets group. "The fact that the market is starting the year above the two hundred million unit mark in the historically slower first quarter is a good indicator of where the market may be by the end of the year. It also gives vendors some early indications of consumer preferences, which will need to be translated into feature sets and form factors."

Much of the worldwide growth has been attributed to developing markets, which have not only seen an influx of entry-level devices for first-time users, but an increasing interest in mid-range and higher end devices.

I bet it will grow even more in a year or two. Cell phones are become more and more affordable. You never know!

Well not only that but they have become a must for a lot of people. Some cannot go a single day without using it. Either for personal use or for work. Its kind of crazy actually.