China mobile phone market grew 14 percent last year

From Xinhua: Mobile phone sales rise 14%

"China mobile phone market grew 14 percent last year as global giants Nokia and Samsung fought back against a field of stumbling domestic players, data released Wednesday showed.
Mobile phone makers sold 68 million units last year in China, the world’s biggest market, accounting for about 12 percent of global unit sales last year, according to Gartner."

"The nation’s biggest domestic player, Ningbo Bird Co., saw its share drop to 8.6 percent from 10 percent, while the number-two domestic firm, TCL Communication Technology Holdings Ltd., fell to 7.2 percent from 9.7 percent.
Bird, TCL and a field of other domestic players posted steady gains against the foreign companies, boosting their collective share to 40 percent of the market in 2004 from just 4 percent five years before, according to Gartner.
But the foreign companies have fought back, introducing a new range of cheap models aimed at the market spectrum where domestic players had made major inroads."

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