Mobile phone market to shrink in 2009

Mobile phone sales will shrink next year at their fastest pace ever as consumers cut spending, a Reuters poll showed, with analysts increasingly concerned about unsold phones piling up in stores. On average, the poll of 36 analysts shows global market volumes shrinking 6.6 percent next year and 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter -- traditionally the strongest period for the industry due to holiday sales. In a similar poll in early November analysts on average forecast the market to rise 2.6 percent in 2009. But since then Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, has warned twice on market growth, saying on December 4 its best guess was for sales to fall 5 percent or more next year.