India's mobile handset market remained flat in 2009, registering sales of 101.54 million units, mainly due to lower sales in the first six months, research firm IDC India said on Friday.
The market showed signs of revival in the fourth quarter of 2009 with a year-on-year growth of 2.3 per cent to touch 28.36 million units.
IDC India, in its Quarterly Mobile Handsets Tracker, said while the Finnish handset maker Nokia retained the largest market share of 54.1 per cent in terms of sales during the year, new vendors are catching up fast.
The number of new vendors in the Indian mobile handsets market grew to 28 and together garnered 17.5 per cent of the total sales for the first time during the October-December 2009 quarter, it said.
This represents a steady growth from only five new vendors, representing a 0.9 per cent combined share of units sold in the January-March 2008 quarter, the report added.
Overall, new vendors registered a combined market share of 12.3 per cent in terms of total sales for the year 2009.
"The mobile handsets market got even more crowded and fragmented at the lower and mid-market segments with the rise of 'copycat' models that have looks and aesthetics resembling those of high-end smartphones," IDC India Lead Analyst (Mobile Handsets Research) Naveen Mishra said.
These 'copycat' look-alikes are often available for as little as one-tenth of the average sales value of a smartphone, he added.
IDC said the trend is expected to continue, with the market witnessing launch of more such look-alikes, following the launch of aspirational value smartphone models by major vendors.
"The adoption of these look-alikes is expected to be higher amongst the student and young executive segment, whose purchase decisions are often driven by peer group and lifestyle influences as well as affordability," the report said.
Samsung and LG had a 9.7 per cent and 6.4 per cent market share for the year ended December 31, 2009, placing the Korean majors at the No 2 and No 3 spots, respectively.
