Growth of European handset market slowing?
Hot on the heels of strong fourth quarter performances, Sony Ericsson and Nokia are warning that things are starting to get a little soft going into 2008 -- a possible symptom of a global recession, not to mention a sign that folks may be finally stumbling on "perfect" phones that they no longer feel compelled to upgrade before they're utterly worn out. For its part, Sony Ericsson sent a note out that it's going to fall well short of analysts' projections of 26 million handsets shipped in the first quarter of '08, coming in closer to 22 million; Nokia meanwhile has said that it saw a mere 3 percent growth in the European market in 2007, compared to a whopping 16 percent in 2006. The proverbial silver lining on the cloud might be that manufacturers are seeing plenty of new business in emerging markets in the Asia Pacific region, so they have a safe haven to protect some profit if the rest of the world's economies fall apart for the next year or two.
[Via PHONE Magazine]
Read - Sony Ericsson warns of soft results
Read - Nokia says European mobile phone growth fell in '07
