Nokia drops to fourth in North American market
Nokia's share of the North American cell phone market has dropped 7% in the past year.
Ranked second behind Motorola one year ago, the Finnish company is now in fourth place behind the Korean manufacturers LG and Samsung.
The figures come from the latest market analysis by Strategy Analytics, which showed that handset growth in the region slowed to 3% overall in the first quarter.
A similar pattern has developed in western Europe, where cell phone shipments fell by 8% year-on-year in the first quarter, according to the same analyst (see related story).
Motorola has increased its domination of the North American market, now holding a 34% market share compared with 29% one year ago. LG has moved up from fourth place to second and now has a 17% share, while Samsung is just behind its Korean rival.
According to Eddie Tapiero, an analyst with Strategy Analytics, Nokia has lost out to its major rivals in the GSM replacement market. Its market share in the region dropped to 13% as a result.
The analyst company expects Samsung to struggle in the future: "Samsung's refusal to move beyond its initial high-end strategy is reminiscent of the myopia shown by Nokia in not jumping on the color and clamshell bandwagon."
Nokia remains the leading global supplier of cell phones, with a commanding lead in terms of market share.
