After Sony Ericsson confessed yesterday that demand for its wares has been “slowing” this quarter, and that investors should expect reduced profits as a result, Nokia has stepped up to the mic to claim that growth in the European cellphone market fell to 3-percent during 2007, a distinct turnaround from the 16-percent growth in 2006.  In fact, handset sales have been slowing in North America, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, with the latter two showing the most marked reduction: down to 19-percent from 68-percent growth in 2006.  North America growth reduced from 13-percent to 6-percent.  However the manufacturer is yet to reveal whether these figures will have an impact on their financial performance.

The reason for the confusion is that despite the slow-down in some regions, developing markets have been picking up some of the slack.  Having comprised 55-percent of total sales in 2006, emerging cellphone markets made up almost 60-percent in 2007; both China and Asia-Pacific sales growth was 34-percent last year (compared to 29 and 27-percent respectively in 2006).

Basic cellphones, therefore, made up a greater proportion of the 1.14bn total handsets sold than previously: those under €50 ($78) accounted for 35-percent of that figure.  Nokia estimates a 43-percent global penetration rate with around 3.3bn mobile phone users in the world, a significant increase from 40-percent penetration and 2.7bn users in 2006.