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Nokia and Motorola take 57% of global phone market

M600i: Sony Ericsson has become a power in the top and medium prized mobile phone category. Nokia and Motorola increased their share of the global cell phone market in the fourth quarter. Asian makers Samsung and LG Electronics were the losers.

Nokia has 35.2 percent of the market in the quarter, up from 34.1 percent a year earlier, research company Strategy Analytics said Thursday. Motorola increased its share to 21.9 percent from 18.2 percent.

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications expanded its share to 8.7 percent from 6.6 percent.

- Emerging markets, mostly Asia Pacific and Africa, will continue to be the main engines of global volume, but not profit, growth, Strategy Analytics said.

- eveloped markets, such as Western Europe, will remain relatively sluggish.

Strategy Analytics forecast global unit sales to reach 1.14 billion this year, up 12 percent from 2006.

Big move

Sony Ericsson said earlier in January that its profit tripled in the fourth quarter on surging handset sales.

Measured by revenue, Sony Ericsson overtook Samsung’s mobile phone unit for the first time in the fourth quarter, according to the Strategy Analytics numbers.

Samsung’ss share in the Q4 2006 slipped to 10.7 percent from 11.1 percent a year earlier. Samsung’s handset earnings missed estimates as it cut prices to compete with Nokia and Motorola.

- Samsung is losing out to Nokia in smart phones, while Motorola and Sony Ericsson have gained serious momentum in feature phones, Strategy Analytics said.