Nokia sales up 22 per cent

According to Neil Mawston, an associate director with Strategy Analytics, "If Motorola can continue this breakneck pace - a stretch, but not totally inconceivable given the strength of their core designs - it would overtake Nokia in the first half of 2007."

Between the two companies, they account for 55 per cent of total global handset sales. Next comes Samsung followed by a resurgent Sony Ericsson which has managed to overtake LG again. Siemens/BenQ has dropped off the radar.

Nokia's sales in China and Asia-Pacific grew impressively - by 58 and 79 per cent respectively. However, its strategy in North America seems to be in tatters. The company admitted that a decline in sales for Q2 2006 has followed the cancellation of a significant order for prepaid handsets.

There's also the decision to pull out of a proposed joint venture to manufacture cdmaOne handsets with Sanyo. Instead it plans to focus on a few key cdmaOne markets - particularly North America.

But Nokia will ramp down its own cdmaOne R&D plus its manufacturing by April 2007. Which sounds like it made the decision to jump ship back in April. Of course, this has nothing to do with W-CDMA/3G handsets.

Nokia's share of the global W-CDMA handset market grew to 30 per cent.That'll be a key area because it's one of the sectors Motorola needs to address vigorously if it is to catch Nokia. µ