0 Phones, the market is picking

Consumption in crisis, but there are signs of improvement for 2010
Cellular market ripresaROMA

The economic crisis is being felt even in the TLC and the sale of phones and smartphones in 2009 the total market has nearly 50 million units less than in 2008 (-4%). A figure that compares with five years of positive trends as regards the volumes (+48%). However, there are signs of improvement for 2010.

These are the findings from research GfK Digital World, carried out by GfK Retail and technlogy and Cea (U.S. Consumer Electronics Authority), which provides analysis and forecasts market trends worldwide. The report integrates into a new global database of sales data from the sector Technical Consumer Equipment (consumer electronics, photography, computer telephony) from producers in the U.S. and from surveys carried out by GfK in over 400,000 stores worldwide.

Despite the fall of 2009, two important aspects should be highlighted: the second half of the year saw improved sales trends in the global telephony, accompanied by a renewed development of smartphones that have evolved from product typically business logic to consumer .

The Asian market for mobile phones and smartphones has reached 456 million units sold (+1%) which is equivalent in value to 47.5 billion euros (-8% compared to 2008). This growth in volume is due mainly to a recovery in sales in the last three months of the year (+7%, +9%, +16%) compared to the same months (October, November and December) of 2008. Furthermore, the excellent performance of smartphones have been awarded a three-digit growth during almost the whole of 2009 (the best month was December with an increase of 226% in value over the same month of 2008).