Mobile handset sales to reach 139 million this year end: Gartner

The number of mobile device sold in India is expected to reach 138.6 million in 2010, an increase of 18.5 per cent over sales of 117 million units in 2009.
According to a report by Gartner, the mobile handset market is expected to show steady growth through 2014, when sales are projected to surpass 206 million units.
Indian handset sales currently constitute about 10 per cent of worldwide mobile phone sales. Gartner says that due to the size of the Indian market and its open nature (mobile devices being sold independent of service provider), India has attracted many global mobile manufacturers.
The report further says that local mobile device manufacturers have also entered India’s already crowded phone market, and that this intense competition has LED to very low cost devices being sold in the country, where previously very few vendors such as Nokia and Motorola used to dominate.
Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner says, “Established global device manufacturers are losing ground due to fierce competition from local and Chinese manufacturers in the low cost segment. Carrier strategies, lower tariffs and/or third generation (3G) data plans will continue to shape the mobile device market in India.”
He adds, “A large volume of mobile device sales in India come from the low end device segment. The average selling price of a mobile device is approximately $52 (about Rs 2,400), with 85 per cent of devices sold costing below $100 (approximately Rs 4,700).”
According to Gartner, although 3G technology has not been introduced in India yet, 3G device sales are expected to account for 16.7 per cent of total sales this year, up from 9.2 per cent in 2009. By 2014, 3G device sales are expected to account for 69 per cent of total sales.
Smartphone sales in India made up 5.2 per cent of total device sales in the first quarter of this year, and Gartner expects this share to increase to 18 per cent by 2014.