The 4th quarter is usually the time when mobile phone makers register the highest sales figures, unfortunately though it appears this is not the case in the 4th quarter of 08.

Apparently the world mobile phone market slumped some 12.6% in the 4th quarter of 08 as compared to the same quarter of 07. IDC has reported that 4th quarter 08 289 million units shipped while 330.8 million were shipped during Q4 of 07.

However, even with this quarter slump the whole of 2008 delivered an increase of 3.5 percent with total mobile phones being 1.18 billion. This leads manufactures to expect a bleak 2009.

Source — unwiredview