Global mobile phone sales continued to surge in the first quarter, when shipments reached 282 million despite an economic downturn, research firm Strategy Analytics said Friday. Handset maker Nokia Corp. kept its top position, slightly increasing market share to 41 percent in the three months ended March 31. Samsung Electronics in South Korea remained at No. 2 - boosting its market share to 16 percent - while U.S. handset maker Motorola Corp. fell below 10 percent but stayed in third place. "Demand remained strong in emerging markets, particularly in Africa and Asia," according to the Strategy Analytics report. "Korean vendors LG and Samsung were the star performers, growing two to four times faster than the industry average."

Motorola "slumped and is in real danger of being overtaken by LG," whose market share rose to 8.6 percent from 7.2 percent at the end of last year, according to the report.

The U.S.-based research group said Nokia, selling 116 million handsets in the quarter, maintained a "commanding" share. Last week, the Finland-based company said it sold 115 million handsets and its market share fell to 39 percent from 40 percent in the previous quarter.

In the U.S., Nokia's market share dwindled from 20 percent to some 7 percent in just two years, the report said, cautioning that Nokia's share of the smart phone market had fallen from about 50 percent in early 2007 to 44 percent.

The research firm predicted that 290 million handsets will be sold worldwide in the second quarter - an increase of 12 percent over the same period in 2007 but a decrease of 14 percent compared with the previous three months.

Email To A Friend