Nokia toppled as UK No1
Sony Ericsson looks set to nick top spot from Nokia for the Christmas quarter, and possibly usurp it as best selling handset manufacturer for the year.
According to data from research company Gfk, by which the industry measures handset sales, Sony Ericsson has been the best selling vendor for the past nine weeks.
One manufacturer source said: “Sony Ericsson will take the number one spot this Christmas. It will be the first time that Nokia’s been toppled for five years. It’s been given a real run for its money. Sony Ericsson has had a phenomenal year.”
Figures for the week ending November 18 show Sony Ericsson with over 25 per cent of sales. Nokia had just over 20 per cent of sales for the week. Samsung and Motorola were third and fourth respectively.
Nokia slipped back to third place behind Motorola during the week ending November 25. Motorola’s surge coincides directly with it slashing prices on its V3 and L6 handsets, to under £100 on pre-pay.
Monthly figures for October show Sony Ericsson to be second in the table, with 27 per cent of sales for the month, just a single percentage point behind Nokia, with 28 per cent.
Weekly figures cover 80 per cent of handsets sold in the UK market. It excludes non-specialist retail outlets, such as Tesco, Woolworths and Argos. It also estimates sales through O2 and Vodafone outlets. Those figures take longer to arrive.
The monthly figures record sales for 98 per cent of the UK market.
Sony Ericsson’s success this year is down to a combination of iconic handset designs, strong branding and a full product portfolio. Its high-end handsets from early this year, such as the K750i and W810i, have been made available on pre-pay ahead of Christmas. Even its K800i camera-phone is available on pre-pay, priced at £190, and selling well.
The networks have also got behind Sony Ericsson. One retail source said: “Sony Ericsson’s had a stunning year. It’s edged Nokia out. Nokia is selling a lot of volume at the low-end. Nokia is strong for low-end handsets. Sony Ericsson’s releasing monster handsets with great functionality. That’s good for networks, which want users to download content and increase ARPU.”
Another added: “At the moment Nokia and Motorola are the weakest players.”
Sony Ericsson marketing manager Richard Dorman said: “It’s proving to be a very interesting scrap this quarter between, not just ourselves and Nokia, but all the top four manufacturers. We’ve seen a little slow down in contract sales, but not nearly as much in pre-pay sales as we have in previous years.”
Nokia director of communications Mark Squires said: “We are a victim of a diverse product range. We tend to be in more outlets than other manufacturers. So it doesn’t measure the full range of Nokia’s activities and sales. The market has moved on and it is difficult for me to comment upon an imperfect measure.”
