Mobile phone sales go through the roof

Motorola's Razr helped the vendor to a 70 per cent sales increase

Worldwide sales of mobile phones in the third quarter increased by 22 per cent year-over-year to 205.4 million units, according to data from Gartner. 

The quarter saw the highest figures since the analyst firm started tracking mobile phone sales in 2001. The continuing demand for new handsets prompted Gartner to raise its forecast for 2005 to 810 million units.

Nokia strengthened its number one ranking by increasing its market share to 32.6 per cent, up 1.6 per cent over the same period in 2004. 

But Motorola made the largest jump. The US maker of the popular Razr phones increased unit sales by 70 per cent, ranking second with an 18.7 per cent market share. The remaining vendors either lost market share or remained stable. 

Nokia and Motorola are reaping the profits from an aggressive focus on emerging markets, according to Gartner.

Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa saw sales jump by 40 per cent, South America grew by 43 per cent and the Asia Pacific region by 27 per cent.