HELSINKI - The market share of Nokia, the world's leading mobile phone maker, fell for the first time in two years in Western Europe during the third quarter as rivals Siemens, Samsung and SonyEricsson gained territory, a research report indicated on Dec. 5.
In real terms Nokia's slice of the key market fell 9.1 percentage points to 42.1 percent during the three-month period compared with a year ago, the research firm Strategy Analytics said in its latest market report.
"Nokia lost market share in Western Europe for the first time in two years, losing momentum to Siemens and Sagem in the low-end and to Samsung and SonyEricsson in the mid- and high-ends," Strategy Analytics said.
"The U.K., one of Nokia's biggest markets worldwide, was a notable weak-spot for the Finnish giant in the third quarter," it noted.
Some 32.4 million handsets were shipped in Western Europe in the third quarter, up 23 percent year-on-year, the research firm said.
About 13.7 million of those bear the Nokia name, Strategy Analytics added.
The research firm now expects that some 125 million handsets will be shipped for the whole of 2003 in Western Europe, or over a quarter of global sales.
During the third quarter Siemens shipped some 5.5 million mobile phones, giving it second place and a 17 percent share in the key market, up 7.5 percentage points from a year ago.
At the same time Samsung and SonyEricsson overtook Motorola to claim the third and fourth rankings respectively, with the U.S.-based firm now trailing fifth, down two places.
Compared with last year, Samsung's stake increased by a full percentage point to 8.6 percent in the July-September period, and Sony-Ericsson's was up 2.6 percentage points to 6.6 percent, while Motorola lost 1.5 percentage points to 6.3 percent, Strategy Analytics said.
