Irish love affair with the phone continues
By Adrian Weckler
More than 234,000 mobile phones were sold in Ireland from January to April, according to new industry statistics.
The figures, from GfK Retail and Technology, show that one in three mobile phones purchased in Ireland is a touchscreen handset.
The research also reveals that the sale of ‘smartphones’ has doubled as a percentage of overall sales since the beginning of the year.
The research agency classifies a smartphone as having ‘‘an advanced operating system, either touch or a Qwerty input and a full e-mail client’’.
In total,1.9 million handsets were sold in the Irish market in 2009. Nokia retains the lead in the Irish mobile phone market, followed by Samsung and Sony Ericsson.
Samsung sold 497,000 mobile phones in the Irish market last year and now has a market share of 26 per cent in Ireland, according to the manufacturer.
Of its 497,000 sales, over 300,000 were touchscreen handsets, making it the biggest selling touchscreen manufacturer in the Irish market.
Earlier this year, a report claimed that there were 250,000 iPhones currently being used in Ireland.
Vodafone began selling the handset last month, while 3 Ireland has confirmed that it will begin selling the iPhone within weeks. 3 has also indicated that it will enter a partnership with Apple in the coming weeks when the iPad goes on sale in Ireland in early July.
