Picture Phones Driving Market

Research released today shows that cell phones that let users talk and send pictures at the same time are driving worldwide shipments of mobile phones. The growing popularity of camera-equipped cell phones boosted the market by more than 19 percent in the second quarter this year.

Shipments of so-called smartphones that handle data as well as voice transmissions also grew to represent one-point-seven percent of the total mobile phone market. They were only point-five percent during the same quarter a year ago.

Sealfon says that nearly one-third of all phones shipped in the quarter by Nokia, a top vendor, had color screens, cameras or multimedia capabilities. Finland-based Nokia has 34.6 percent of the global market share. It shipped 40.9 million units in the quarter. That´s more than double its closest competitor, Motorola. Nokia also led in the smartphone category, followed by Sony Ericsson and then Motorola.