NPD: Cellular Off To Strong Q1 Start

By Joseph Palenchar On May 22 2006 - 6:00am

It looks like it's going to be another record-breaking year for cellular sell-through.

First-quarter retail-level handset sales grew 11 percent in the first quarter, to 34.8 million units, accounting for $2.3 billion in consumer spending, The NPD Group said. The number of handsets sold with built-in Bluetooth hit 18 percent of unit sales, up from 9 percent in the year-ago quarter, the research company also found.

For calendar 2005, NPD noted, handset sell-through hit 131.8 million.

“Surprisingly, the U.S. handset market continued its strong surge in the first quarter,” said Neil Strother, mobile devices research director. “Normally, there is a seasonal drop in the first quarter after the holiday rush.” The first-quarter performance reflects “a very healthy market, and we're seeing strong demand for replacement models and from new subscribers,” he said.

NPD also found that Motorola maintained its No. 1 market-share position during the first quarter, boosting its share sequentially from 27 percent, to 29 percent, thanks to the success of its RAZR models. Nokia and Samsung followed with 18 percent with LG at 15 percent.

In GSM handsets, Motorola led with 39 percent share followed by Nokia with 24 percent and Samsung with 16 percent. During the first quarter, LG was the leader in CDMA handsets with a 31 percent market share, Samsung at 20 percent, and Motorola in third at 13 percent.