Music Cell Phones Dominate Sales For First Time in Sweden

Authored by Jay Baage on July 20, 2006 - 8:00am.

Sales of cell phones in Sweden recovered in the second quarter after a period of negative growth. Over 60% of all new cell phones sold were equipped with built-in music players, according to market research firm GFK.

Telecom trends in Scandinavia are often seen as indicative of what will happen in the rest of the world because of the tech savvy population and high cell phone penetration. Last year the Swedes held back buying new handsets because the new models were not appealing enough. During the first quarter of 2006 total sales continued to decline by 5%. In the second quarter, however, there was a trend shift and sales increased by 16%, compared to the same period last year.

What is driving the increase in sales are popular new cell phone models equipped with music players. Over 60% of all new handsets sold in Sweden during the last quarter had music players, as compared to 34% last year, according to GFK.

“The Music Cell Phones have been selling really, really well. These new models are the main reason sales are up and I believe that music phones will eventually replace the mp3-player”, says Allen Pedersen, Telecom Analyst at GFK, to the Swedish Business Daily Dagens Industri (DI).

The best selling brand of music cell phones is most likely Sony Ericsson’s Walkman branded hand sets, according to Dagens Industri, but no official data on this was available. Sony Ericsson is a joint venture between Japanese electronics giant Sony and Swedish Telecom Equipment maker Ericsson.

“There are more interesting models on its way and they will be in stores later this year, for example Sony Ericsson P990 and Nokia’s N-Models”, says Allen Pedersen to DI.