Mobile market booms for Nokia

Mobile phone maker Nokia said the handset market last year was larger than it had previously forecast due to more accurate measurement…

Mobile phone maker Nokia said the handset market last year was larger than it had previously forecast due to more accurate measurement of unlicensed and counterfeit production.

Nokia said the mobile phone market totalled 1.26 billion phones last year, above its earlier forecast of 1.14 billion.

It said it raised the forecast due to improved measurement processes and tools that enable it to better estimate the number of handsets sold by certain new entrants.

"These include vendors of legitimate, as well as unlicensed and counterfeit, products with manufacturing facilities primarily centered around certain locations in Asia and other emerging markets," Nokia said.

It said this new forecast cut its own market share to 34 per cent, compared with its earlier forecast of 38 per cent.

Nokia repeated it expected the 2010 phone market to grow 10 per cent, also according to its new forecast, while its market share would be unchanged at 34 per cent.

Reuters