Mobile Phone Sales Increase 14 Percent

npd.jpgMobile phone sales to consumers in the United States reached 33 million units in the second quarter of this year, a decline of nearly 17 percent compared to the unit sales during the previous quarter according to The NPD Group, a consumer and retail information company. However, reports NPD Group, the second quarter is typically a slow sales quarter for mobile phone retailers… and there was that iPhone thing on the horizon, which may have further slowed sales. Regardless of these numbers for the second quarter of 2007 consumer sales totaled $2.4billion, which is a 14 percent increase over the same period from 2006.

“Despite seasonal slowness, the industry showed healthy year-over-year unit and revenue increases,” said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD. “Consumers are seeing value in moving to handsets that offer data-driving capabilities. It’s not unusual to note a decline in mobile phones purchased, since it has traditionally been a lackluster quarter for consumer mobile phone sales.”

Consumers are also buying their phones from traditional mobile phone stores as well. Carrier stores accounted for 62 percent of sales, followed by big box retailers and department stores with nine percent of sales, while other electronics specialty stores accounted for five percent. Figures for online purchases were not released. The top five handset manufacturers remained the same for the second quarter as the first. The breakdown of top sellers was Motorola (32 percent), Samsung (18), LG (17), Nokia (10) and Sanyo (4).

We’ll be very curious to see how the iPhone’s release affects the third quarter sales number for mobile handsets.

NPD Group